ICON (ICX) seeks to establish a community of blockchain networks and develop and enable cross-chain decentralized services as well as smart contract systems that are hybrid-decentralized. The aim is to support the growth and expansion of the broader blockchain ecosystem through the development of an interoperable network connection between independent blockchains.
Icon’s goal is to use its secure blockchain network as a hub for a wide range of digital services. This can include identity management, payments, and smart contracts. The company’s “partners” include several companies in the finance, government, and healthcare sectors that use Icon’s network to run their existing operations or develop new applications on top of the platform.
Summary
In South Korea, enterprise blockchain adoption has been a top priority since the launch of the ICON project. The ICON Network has been used by some of the country’s largest organizations, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Danal (KOSDAQ: 064260), and Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH). Shinhan Bank and Jeju Island Government are using Zzeung, a decentralized identity (DID) solution. In addition, ICON’s consumer applications, such as DeFi and NFT, are on the rise.
The identity that is decentralized
Using ICON’s public blockchain technology and native coin ICX, ICONLOOP, a leading blockchain company in South Korea, has released several enterprise-focused applications. Decentralized identity (DID) is the company’s main business. Zzeung is the company’s flagship product, identity authentication, and management tool. In South Korea, ICONLOOP was granted an exclusive license to provide DID services to enterprise customers by the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Samsung Electronics, Naver Cloud, and Bithumb exchange are also members of the MyID Alliance, Korea’s largest DID consortium.
ChainID is the first blockchain-based joint authentication service for the financial services industry developed by ICONLOOP and the Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA). Zzeung uses the MyID financial identity authentication architecture, which evolved from ChainID. MyID Alliance was launched in November of 2019 by ICONLOOP, with the first use case being to improve Know Your Customer (KYC) verification processes within the financial services sector with MyID.
Authentication data can be securely stored on mobile devices with Zzeung. Zzeung is currently used to verify non-face-to-face biometric information (facial recognition) when opening an online financial account. ICON Network secures authentication data after it is initially used. A new financial account can be opened elsewhere within minutes from there. With $375 billion in assets, Shinhan Bank, South Korea’s second-largest commercial bank, selected Zzeung as its first blockchain-based KYC authentication provider.
In addition to financial services, Zzeung has broader applications. Zzeung was selected by Jeju Island in August 2020 for private and secure COVID-19 contact tracing. As part of the ICON project, Jeju Island’s 15 million annual tourists will be kept healthy and safe while their identity and privacy are protected. It is critical for us to be able to prove our identity quickly and privately on a daily basis. Our identity is essential to healthcare, insurance, banking, voting, passport eligibility, and other uses.
A digital certificate issued by ICON Blockchain
ICONLOOP created Broof as a digital certificate management solution. Digital certificates can be issued, stored, and verified using it. By ensuring each digital certificate is unique, the ICON Network prevents any possibility of fraud.
As an early user, Seoul Metropolitan Government helped test the Broof prototype. ICON Network was used by the Seoul Metropolitan Government in February 2019 to appoint members of its ‘Blockchain Governance Team’. First official interaction with a public blockchain network by a Korean government entity.
A number of leading educational institutions have adopted Broof since its production launch in May 2019. As of February 2020, 828 new graduates at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) were awarded diplomas with Broof technology. A graduation ceremony was canceled and students were given the option of receiving their diplomas online due to the Coronavirus threat. Fast Campus, Korea’s largest online academy, has also begun using Broof to send certificates of completion to students.
The largest online job search platform in Korea, Saramin HR, will begin using Broof in September 2020 to certify applicants’ academic and professional credentials. Broof allows job applicants to upload and link all their official certificates, such as college diplomas and transcripts. Verified copies of these official certificates can be easily sent to interested companies or other parties since they are tamper-proof digital versions.
The Digital Pass offered by ICON Network
The VisitMe service by ICONLOOP enables visitors to check in and manage their visits. It simplifies the process of registering, checking in, and tracking visitors. A visitor pass is unique and cannot be duplicated by utilizing the MyID architecture and the ICON Network.
By September 2020, VisitMe had surpassed 100,000 users and more than 1,000 businesses were using it. Cafés, restaurants, hospitals, offices, and hotels such as Hilton and Conrad are among the places where WiFi is available. In South Korea, ICONLOOP began offering VisitMe services free of charge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ICX Coin payments via ICON Blockchain
The ICON Network’s native cryptocurrency ICX is being adopted by Danal Fintech, a subsidiary of Korea’s largest mobile payment company Danal Co. Danal Fintech announced on November 11 that Paycoin, its global payments and remittance mobile app, will adopt ICX. Danal Fintech’s own PCI tokens are the only cryptocurrency integrated into Paycoin. With Paycoin, users will be able to pay in ICX at any of Danal’s 60,000 merchant partners, including KFC and Domino’s Pizza.
Blockchain-based decentralized finance
The blockchain industry’s fastest-growing segment is decentralized finance (DeFi). ICON Network’s DeFi ecosystem uses ICX as collateral. Holders of ICX can use their ICX as collateral when borrowing other assets. The ICON Network now includes bonds, the primary driver of global economics.
DeFi’s Balanced Network creates tokens that are pegged to real-world assets such as the U.S. dollar with the collaboration of four Public Representatives (P-Reps). An open money market is another DeFi collaboration between four P-Reps to enable anyone to lend or borrow assets, earn interest, and own a piece of the protocol. ICON community members are collaborating more with DeFi.
The ICON Network added Orbit Bridge integration to its DeFi ecosystem in December 2020, allowing Ethereum-based digital assets to be transferred onto the network. In addition to bridging assets between different blockchains, this integration brings more economic activity to the ICON Network. Arbitrage opportunities now exist for traders, and DeFi projects built on ICON can now borrow and lend assets across different networks.
The user experience is heavily emphasized with these DeFi products on the ICON Network. Despite the difficulty of understanding and using DeFi products, a very small percentage of cryptocurrency users use them. The number of confusing aspects of blockchain technology are reduced in ICON’s DeFi products.
Non-fungible tokens of ICON Network
The NFT represents unique ownership of distinguishable and non-fungible digital assets or physical assets. Physical properties and virtual assets can both be represented by NFTs.
To facilitate the adoption of non-fungible assets and digital collectibles, the IRC-3 non-fungible token standard was developed for the ICON Network in July 2020. By using this standard, Block42 P-Rep launched the STIN project so that limited edition gin bottles could be authenticated with the ICON Network. STIN utilizes an Infineon-powered contactless crypto-chip with a unique public-private key pair. This chip was hand-applied to the bottle during the labeling process in such a way that it cannot easily be removed. The digital signature of the chip allows anyone to verify the limited edition validity of the 999 bottles on the public blockchain. In the ICON Network, all bottles will be securely stored.
For its online game universe, Project Nebula by the ICON Forge P-Rep team uses the IRC-3 non-fungible token standard, offering a wide variety of digital collectibles with their own unique designs, stories, and resources. The game has not yet been completed, and a launch date was set for March 2021. Nevertheless, they sold out all 99 of their planet NFTs within four minutes of launching a pre-sale in October 2020. The first planet NFT sold for 5009 ICX, equivalent to $1,750 US dollars.
In a few cases, the IRC-3 non-fungible token standard has worked well, but as each asset requires its own contract, it is not scalable. The Staky P-Rep team is currently developing a new IRC-30 non-fungible token standard. In addition, the team launched Craft Network in 2021, which will function as a decentralized marketplace for all NFTs.
Use cases and related technologies
The ICON Network continues to be used to build state-of-the-art systems for enhancing the transparency, efficiency, immutability, and usability of data. The following are examples of these systems:
In order to integrate government-to-citizen electronic transactions, ICONLOOP is currently developing a system. The purpose of this system is to facilitate citizen involvement through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and business process reengineering (BPR).
In order to improve Korean electoral transparency and efficiency, ICONLOOP is working on the Next Generation Election System (NGES). Korean municipalities, regions, and the national government may eventually implement this technology.
The ICONLOOP Chronic Disease Management System is being developed for Korea’s Gangwon-do province to help track and manage chronic diseases. Smoking, drinking, and obesity are at their highest levels in this region.
Using ICON’s blockchain platform, security tokens can be developed, traded, and issued according to the IRC-16 security token standard. In 2021, a redesigned security token was released using this standard.
Decentralized Oracles: In July 2020, Band Protocol implemented a secure decentralized Oracle on the ICON Network for leading decentralized applications (DApps). ICX uses the Oracle solution to verify the asset’s current median price by aggregating data from a variety of sources (including Binance, Kraken, Huobi, CoinMarketCap, and Bithumb). For the purpose of verifying the validity of ICX assets’ current and ongoing price data, this data is intended to serve as a security parameter.
