ICON has been evolving over the past two and a half years and is looking to become the largest blockchain network in Korea. Now it is already one of the largest blockchain networks in the entire world. They have already partnered with securities firms, hospitals, Universities, and the largest partnership with SBI Ripple Asia for a project regarding cross-border remittance. All this will be an effort to make ICON the largest blockchain network in Korea.
What separates ICON from the other ICOs out there is that many of the ICOs out there focus on a vision. ICON actually has a commercially launched product, it is open-sourced, and they have a strong team and advisors. Already there are 25 security firms using ICON’s blockchain today to do blockchain ID. It is hard to find ICOs with real business traction.
What does ICON actually do?
ICON has many independent blockchains that they have already built. For example, they have one blockchain where securities firms are sharing one ledger. They have another blockchain hospitals are sharing one ledger. Another blockchain where Universities are sharing one ledger. ICON has all these different projects going on called loopchain projects. They are then linking all these projects together with the ICON project. So ICON is the “network” that will connect all these independent blockchains together.
Securities
Securities26 Korean securities firms created the Korea Financial Investment Blockchain Consortium in 2016. It is the largest blockchain organization for a single industry. ICON has worked with these security firms to create CHAIN ID, a shared security system for ID theft.
Insurance
Insurance companies are using ICON to make claiming insurance much easier with less complicated procedures.
Banks
The ICON bank community is looking to create a payment system for digital currencies.
Universities
Universities in Korea are using blockchain cryptocurrency platform for their coin called U-coin. Students use U-coin for school payments and transfers.
Hospitals
Hospitals in Korea are looking into creating a data sharing platform among the leading institutions in South Korean healthcare.
Forming a Blockchain Community with ICON
If companies in Korea get together and say they would like to form a community. They would come to ICON and say they would like to implement a blockchain so we can share one ledger together. ICON will provide the technology to do that. They will not govern the ledger, it will be the community that governs the ledger. Think of ICON as a blockchain technology provider. Their main goal, however, is to link these communities so they can communicate with each other freely.
ICON is an enterprise blockchain. So they work with existing systems already in place. So ICON targets independent enterprises in Korea and teaches them that blockchain has a lot of benefits. Their main challenge will be convincing these enterprises that they should trust the ICON blockchain with their data.
