Disclaimer: I have taken part in the Datum pre-ICO (Initial Coin Offering). My reasoning behind why I have done so is explained below. I am in no other way affiliated with the company but believe in the project and the opportunity it presents to individuals, and to society at-large. I am not a financial advisor and am merely presenting my opinion. Do your own research before investing into any ICO.
On a sidenote, if you agree with my thoughts on the prospects of this opportunity, please feel free to up-vote my post to help spread the word!
Introduction
We are constantly hearing about how big data is one of the most important developments of our generation. With billions of connected individuals, operating numerous devices that in turn run various technologies, vast amounts of data is constantly being produced. It is estimated that there is 2.5 Quintillion bytes of data in existence, with 90% of it having been created in the last 2 years alone.
This data is highly useful, even essential, for an unfathomable number of reasons, some of which include:
- It can help businesses optimize almost all aspects of their operations. From marketing to stock control, information can be used to improve company profits and user/customer experience.
- Fighting crime. Big data is being used to help police forces determine where and when it is most likely for a crime to be committed. This allows them to best prepare for particular eventualities.
- Most excitingly for me, it is increasingly being used in the health-tech and medicine industries. The analysis of big data will help develop cures and allow clinical trials to run, not just on a small set of individuals, but everyone with an internet connection.
For a better understanding of real-world uses of big data, I would recommend the following short article: https://www.bernardmarr.com/default.asp?contentID=1076
The opportunity
Having established the usefulness of big data, and the obvious growth that will be seen within the industry, we now turn to how this data is captured and sold. Presently most of it is stored by tech companies and other large organizations (even governments) and is sold directly to buyers or through vendors who specialize in brokering data. The problem with this is that we, the people who generate this valuable resource, are not remunerated whatsoever.
Datum is a company that plans on changing this by allowing users of its app to extract and backup their user data from various other apps and services and then share or even sell this data. Most importantly, the sharing is done anonymously by default, which will appease many people who worry about their personal information falling into the wrong hands.
Assessing Datum
Management. Six full time employees with vast experience in tech startups. I won’t bore you with information on them all as this can be found on the https://datum.network/ website.
Co-founder, Roger Haenni seems to be the spearhead of the company and is someone who I’ve been corresponding with frequently since discovering the Datum project. He has always been, as far as I can tell, completely transparent. Don’t take my word for it, join the Slack group (link below) or visit datum.network where he is usually available to chat with.
Datum’s Website. Professional and informative. The project’s whitepaper can be found here that comprehensively explains the concept and includes a roadmap to mass adoption. The one negative, for me at least, is the .network domain. Maybe they can change that in the future.
Community. Datum has a social media presence across Facebook and Twitter and its community is based on the slack channel https://datumnetwork.slack.com. There are over 800 registered users. Although there isn’t much in terms of general banter, questions about the project are normally answered promptly.
Marketing. This is my main concern. The pre-ICO wasn’t marketed as well as it should have been so not enough people were aware of either it, or the concept in general. Having said that, 1250 Ethereum (roughly $400,000) has already been raised despite this. And this is with two weeks of the pre-ICO left to go. Datum has assured the community that more focus will be placed on the marketing of the upcoming ICO and going forward to market release of the platform.
In general terms, I consider marketing opportunities to be in abundance, and the application could easily ‘go viral’.
The Name. In my eyes, Datum as a name is perfect. It is short, catchy and easy to pronounce, no matter what language a user speaks.
What data will be ‘sharable’ at launch? As far as I am aware, users will be able to share data from most social networks as well as internet browsing data. Future scope is unlimited and Datum plans on synchronizing with Fitbits and other fitness tech, Uber, and a whole host of applications.
DAT (the coin/token). Post-launch, users of the Datum app will have access to a marketplace where they and buyers interact. Once the user shares say, their Facebook data, with the buyer, they will be rewarded with a specific amount of DAT tokens. These tokens can then be traded out for fiat currency, or such items as Amazon vouchers.
DAT will be traded on an exchange allowing it to be listed alongside the likes of Bitcoin, Etherium, and Litecoin. The token is what is known as ‘deflationary’, which means that as more and more people adopt it, and it is used, a small percentage of the tokens will be ‘burnt’ (or taken out of existence) over time, leading to a smaller supply and subsequently potential higher value.
Summary
Considering the value of the big data industry, and its exponential growth, Datum’s proposition could redefine how information is distributed. Why wouldn’t you want to earn some extra income for anonymously sharing data that is otherwise sold without your approval anyway? Just imagine if there is mass-market adoption and 100 million users start sharing their data? I don’t consider this to be too far-fetched. It is particularly exciting to think that people in developing and third-world countries will be able to benefit financially from this.
So long as the company’s finished product is user friendly and bug-free, I foresee little risk and when compared to the immense potential, the reward could be massive for those of us onboard with the Initial Coin Offering.
In a nutshell, this IS my “most underrated ICO of 2017”.
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