It is not everyday that we hit pause. We are in a constant “Go! Go! Go!” mode, and sometimes it feels we are going nowhere, like a hamster on its wheel I guess. Sometimes a small pause is all we need, and that is exactly what the team behind GATCOIN did, which I find refreshing.
Something I did not mention on my previous blog entry, GATCOIN: Global Awards Token, was that GATCOIN’s Pre-Sale and ICO had been scheduled to take place earlier (I only just found out about it, so the information I posted on the previous entry is the second update). It coincided with the bitcoin cash fork, which I am guessing was also an important factor behind the decisions.
Let me explain. Their “Private Sale” started in late September, 2017 and due to the strong response they figured it might be best to “give the public sale more time to run as buyers commit to supporting the platform in advance of the public sale” (my guess is that the first “public sale” they mention on the quote really refers to the “pre-sale”). So, on October 17th, 2017 they updated their ICO timeline from whatever it was originally (as I have yet to find that time-table), to this:
At this time hard-cap was reduced*, and they also announced that they would be reducing the public sale token supply, since a larger amount than expected was “spoken for in the private-sale.” This were probably not happy news for possible pre-sale and ICO investors, as the supply for purchase would be lower, but at least this ensured the amount in circulation post-ICO would be the same.
*(If I am not mistaken, their original hard cap was 60 million USD and at this point it was reduced to 35.87 million USD, which I am guessting was due to the amount sold during the private sale).
(Old token distribution vs. new token distribution)
On November 27th, 2017 the team updated their news section with a new Token Sale Update in which they explained how after listening to feedback from their supporters they decided to “adapt our Token Sale process”. At this point is when they decided to pause the token sale to re-evaluate, at this point they also mentioned that Pre-Sale would be extended for an additional two weeks.
So on December 10th, 2017 the new token sale details was posted:
(this is the timeline I posted in my previous entry).
As you can see, the changes were not very big to be honest. It was only a 2-week extension on the ICO, which is also the result of extending the pre-sale by 2 weeks. Hard-cap was decreased again, this time to 14.5 million USD, a comparably lower amount to the initially sought 60 million USD. Because some users were concerned about this new “extension” the team re-assured those who had already purchased GAT with the following statement:
(I guess in the end they decided it was best to increase the amount of tokens in circulation post-ICO).
This is where it gets a bit tricky though. In my last entry I was left with the question on how the ETH price increase would affect their ICO (at the time of their whitepaper update – mid December -, ETH was around USD 450 per ETH, while it is currently USD 1152 per ETH).
Well, those concerns were addressed today, January 8th, 2018 on a new update on their news page: https://www.gatcoin.io/hardcap-determination-announcement/ In summary, they have decided to use a 7-day trailing average model, which I think is more than fair: "We will be using a 7-day trailing average, which means that we will look at 7 days of historical data for the price of ETH on coinmarketcap.com and btcaverage.com and then close, once we hit the USD market cap with that average." Unfortunately for those of us that didn’t invest during the pre-sale, this also means there might not be an ICO at all, or if prices plummet it could go until closing date. Now, I don’t want the price of ETH to plummet, but I would really like to invest on this ICO. If it remains “stable-ish” maybe I have a shot. If you want to be kept up to date on the trailing average, visit their website or join the telegram channel.
As much as so many changes can sometimes be bad, and could make an ICO project look as unprepared or unprofessional, I do appreciate the full disclosure they have shown throughout the process, especially by asking only for the funds they need. We currently see so many ICOs request an insane amount of money with nothing to show for. At least for now we know there is a demo of GATCOIN’s app, they have already built strong partnerships with important brands such as SK Planet Japan ("their COTOCO network covers 21 major international and local brands with 30,000 retail stores 80,000 restaurants and 60,000 beauty outlets"), and you will be able to start trading GAT coins as soon as the ICO closes. I only hope the price of ETH stops rising so that I can at least purchase a bit of GAT once their ICO opens, if it ever does.
However, even if this is a project that has caught my eye, and I am very interested in, before investing take the time to do your own research (I don’t think I can stress that enough). I am no financial advisor. I am learning as I go (making mistakes along the way) and what I think is interesting and good, might not work for you. If you want to learn more about GATCOIN, these are some good places:
- Official website: https://www.gatcoin.io/
- Whitepaper: https://www.gatcoin.io/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/170919v2-Whitepaper-EN.pdf
- Bitcointalk ANN thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2197889.0 (My username on BTCtalk is allycn if you are wondering).
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gatcoinofficial
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/gatcoin
- Telegram: https://t.me/gatcoin
- Medium: https://medium.com/@gatcoin
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/13425363/
And don't miss the News section on their website, as they have a very interesting article on their A-Drop™ technology (this has not changed my feelings about “transaction data” being bundled up and sold, but I just hope customers will have an option to opt-out), as well as an explanation of their App’s design.
Remember that investing on any ICO or cryptocurrency is risky (as is any type of investment), and there is no guarantee of returns, so never (ever) invest more than you can afford to lose.
Happy ICOing!
Links to some of my previous articles: