Since writing this post, the Civic ICO token sale has now finished raising a cool $33 million :-)
Civic ICO:
Civic (CVC) ICO Analysis
Since the incipience of blockchains and digital assets, digital identity has been a hot topic. Vinny Lingham, South African internet entrepreneur, foresaw the applications of blockchain technology towards digital identity and founded Civic, his blockchain-based identity platform. This only after he had much success transforming gift cards with bitcoin after founding the startup Gyft.
“Civic is building an ecosystem that is designed to facilitate on-demand, secure and low-cost access to identity verification (“IDV”) services via the blockchain, such that background and personal information verification checks will no longer need to be undertaken from the ground up every time,” states Civic’s white paper.
Starting June 21 at 9am EDT, Civic will commence its token sale for the Civic token, or CVC.
“Participants in the ecosystem will use [the coin] to transact in IDV-related services. Civic hopes this ecosystem can reduce the overall costs of [Identity & Age Verification] IDV, remove inefficiencies, enhance security and privacy, greatly improve user experience and disrupt the current IDV supply chain.”
While many initial coin offerings are based on future promises, Civic, alongside its clear vision for the future, offers many services already.
Its digital identity platform, Civic Secure Identity Platform (SIP), can be accessed by downloading the Civic App. This allows users to verify an identity and become a Civic user. The Civic App makes it more difficult for hackers and other malicious groups to gain access to a user’s information.
Civic is viable at least for its own devices -which, if the platform’s design is functional and user-friendly as one would expect from Mr. Linghman, could be noteworthy.
“Civic’s token, or CVC, will be used as a form of settlement between participants to an identity-related transaction within the Ecosystem,” states the Civic white paper.
Users and transaction ‘Validators’ in the Civic model receive CVC as a reward for information sharing on the app. “The proportion in which they share the CVC is defined by the smart contract, and can be adjusted by consensus of the Ecosystem participants.”
CVC should incentivize participants, including users, to contribute to Civic’s Ecosystem and beyond. “Civic anticipates that the Ecosystem will develop such that Civic and third-party providers of identity-related products and services will offer those products and services to Ecosystem participants in exchange for CVC.”
CVC-holding Civic App users can use the token to purchase services native to the application. Civic can also build additional identity-focused services that can be exchanged for Civic tokens.
Services include personal background checks; blockchain notary services; dark web monitoring and searches; access to individual credit reports, and peer-to-peer identity services.
CVC, according to Civic, has “a number of advantages over the use of existing tokens.” The blockchain-based startup writes, “[It] can be used across any number of jurisdictions, retaining a single uniform method of settlement.”
It states further: “Using a blockchain-based token makes it possible to perform settlements automatically and…within a smart contract.”
Civic writes that a specialized token to access identity services ensures stability and shields Civic’s Ecosystem from “extraneous considerations” that can lead to viability within a crypto-asset.
All-in-all, buying CVC in Civic’s initial coin offering means buying into the notion that Civic’s platform improves efficiency and reduces the costs of doing business in the IDV industry.
“Organizations that have invested heavily in IDV services will have the opportunity to monetize their processes both inside and outside their core business areas,” concludes the white paper. “These reduced costs and ease of access to verifiable Users will likely encourage organizations to improve their processes to help combat fraud and deliver better services.”
End users will enjoy greater privacy and control of their personal information and identity, as well as other sensitive data, according to Civic. “Access to services will be faster and more seamless and users will be able to trust more readily services they are using,” states the startup.
“Simply through participation in the Ecosystem, Users will earn tokens which will allow them access to a vast array of useful services that will ultimately help them protect and control their identity.”
The company suggests that its model can ensure “Proof-of-data ownership” to help people protect themselves against identity fraud. Organizations will be able to trust users without the need to retrieve and store data. “This new paradigm will ultimately reduce the risk of data breaches and dramatically increase the cost of committing fraud.”
That there are to be 1 billion CVC tokens might make the offering less attractive to certain investors.
Who is Behind Civic
Vinny Lingham is about as confidence-evoking as you can get in the space. His achievements are numerous and his analysis of the Bitcoin and blockchain industry has earned him thousands of followers in this new exciting frontier of fintech. When he opines, people listen, and oftentimes his price prophecies come true. (though, he his humble about his conclusions)
He sold Gyft, his bitcoin gift card startup, in order to start his identity verification company. Gyft represents one of the most successful early bitcoin businesses thanks to its innovation at the intersection of bitcoin and gift cards.
Blockchain appeared on Shark Tank in South Africa, for which Mr. Lingham is a judge. He invested in a startup using not dollar, but bitcoins.
The Verdict
The startup’s team, thanks to Mr. Lingham’s leadership, is one of the most trusted in the ICO-space. In an industry built on minimizing trust, there’s no understating how far this can go for a cryptographic asset such as CVC. Assuming liberal amounts of public blockchain holdings by an investor, Civic ranks 8 out of 10 in terms of interesting/good/probably-profitable investment.
Investment Details
The Civic token sale kicks off June 21 9am EDT at Tokensale.civic.com. “A fixed supply of CVC will be created during a token sale, with no mechanism for supply to be increased,” states Civic’s white paper.
A ledger will be maintained for CVC. The token will be issued via the ERC20 Standard. They will be sold in lots starting at $50 to $25,000.
330 million tokens will be made available at ten cents per. Civic has reserved 110 million of the tokens – $11 million USD – for the crowdsale itself.
The total supply – 1 billion tokens – will be split three ways: 33% for the token sale; 33% for company reserves; and 33% to incentivization for Community members.
Important: Never invest money you can't afford to lose. Always do your own research and due diligence before placing a trade
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