I'm always on the lookout for high quality ICOs, and 2018 is getting kicked off right with two amazing projects that will likely start whitelisting in February.

Ocean Protocol

I first heard about Ocean through SingularityNET when they announced that they would be partnering with them, which was all the endorsement I needed. I can't really wrap my mind around the exact relationship, but if SingularityNET is on board then so am I.

As near as I can tell, Ocean Protocol is going to provide the repositories for the data that SingularityNET's AI agents will need to do their thing. I think of it like a library where AI goes to do its deep learning.

And like SingularityNET provides a network for people to share monetized AI services, Ocean Protocol will provide a network for people to share monetized data for AI learning.

Ocean Protocol is a joint project between BigchainDB and DEX, two well-established blockchain companies. The whitelist opens on February 15th, and the token sale date is to be announced.

Orchid Protocol

I was instantly taken with Orchid Protocol the moment I saw it on ICO drops, and the more I investigate the more I like them.

The mission behind Orchid's project is to ensure uncensored internet and private browsing. Basically they propose that TOR is too underutilized to be secure due to a lack of incentive, making it vulnerable to hackers. They propose that through bandwidth mining they can incentivise enough people to run relay and exit nodes to make their network fully secure. So the network stays decentralized and open source, but volunteers actually get paid, helping to promote widespread adoption.

The network will organize bandwidth sellers into the distributed peer-to-peer "Orchid Market," where customers come to buy bandwidth, which allows them to use a proxy chain. In a nutshell, it's tokenized TOR-but better. They claim it will even defeat China's great firewall, and they have future plans of implementing measures that will prevent the NSA from logging metadata.

I love this project because it's an example of blockchain in its purest form. That is, it's an environment that begs for trustlessness and is highly vulnerable to censorship. Plus it's based on good old fashioned capitalism.