Moon?
Welcome to this week’s edition of the RHIZOME Wire!
Where moon?
While this week had a wave of positive news for ICON, none of it was as encouraging as the news that the government of Jeju Island would be utilizing ICON’s public network (along with ICONLOOP’s private chain) for COVID tracking-and-tracing the 15 million annual tourists who visit the island.
This was indisputably good news for anyone holding ICX. More importantly, Min Kim subsequently posted a twitter thread indicating that this news was just the first in what would likely be an ongoing drip of similarly good news:
While this brought an initial burst of excitement among the community in Twitter and Telegram, it was soon met with a secondary reaction, which can be effectively summed up as… “Wait…why is the price down?”
This question, asked by a segment of the community, then morphed into a focus on ICX price in general. “Why aren’t we going up?” “We’re losing ground against BTC!” “Look at X token, it’s gone up X% while we’ve gone down!” “These other tokens without any product are mooning and we aren’t!”
To a certain extent, it is understandable why these concerns would exist. Many people have been holding ICX through the difficult times, knowing that once good news came out, the price would reflect that.
Over the past few weeks, as the price of ICX has crept up, I saw many people stating something along the lines of “Once my-ID is officially announced, it will go up even more!” It was this expectation that also partly built up optimistic price projections among a portion of the community.
On that topic, as a general rule, if you’re aware that an announcement is coming, so is the market — and that announcement will essentially already be priced in. For months, we’ve been receiving positive news about my-ID — from the increasing number of partners, to other tidbits. While the details of this “announcement” weren’t known, the idea that ICON would be launching some sort of initiative that would incorporate adoption of some sort was entirely expected; thus, the price already incorporated that news.
In general, it’s my belief that the crypto market is still primarily full of long-term holders who have gone through the bear market and saw all the “good news” that came out in 2017 that often didn’t lead to much. Accordingly, they’re generally less receptive to the impact of “news” on the legitimacy or long-term promise of a given project.
Presumably, however, as the bull market gains steam, more and more new retail investors will be brought in. This will likely be a group where news does make a bigger difference, which will potentially lead to news impacting price more significantly, similar to what we saw in 2017.
The bigger picture
Based on the reactions of a segment of the ICON community, it seems like a number of individuals had based their retirement plans on the seemingly inevitable price spike that was going to come with the “my-ID announcement.” When the price didn’t spike, they were understandably salty.
Ultimately, you can be disappointed that the news didn’t move the price to the extent you wished it had. Or, you can view the news as something far more important: long-awaited proof that the months or years of holding and possibly accumulating ICX at low prices due to your conviction in the project was worth it.
You should view this news as an indicator that ICON will be around for the long-term. The odds it is a scam going to zero are nearly impossible at this point. You should view this as news that ICON will be very relevant in the blockchain world for years to come. You should view this as news that ICON will be around to catch the next “rising tide lifts all boats” wave of the bull market.
It means that anyone who says “ICON has no working product” is a liar. It means that a vague “partnership” announced two years ago can indeed lead to true adoption. And, perhaps most importantly, it means that blockchain does have a workable use case.
Just imagine the following conversation, several years into the future:
You: Yeah, I owned ICON at one point.
Friend: Really, do you still hold it?
You: No, I sold at .50 cents.
Friend: Why? You’d be much wealthier if you held!
You: Well, it was the day they announced the beginning of the product getting mass adoption, which I had been waiting for and anticipating for months, but the price didn’t move very much, so I lost faith and sold.
Friend: *stares blankly*
That would obviously be a ridiculous reaction and frustrating conversation to have. But, for those who were so frustrated by the lack of price action, it’s basically the same thought process (and for those who may have actually sold, the conversation may end up being all too real).
If you’re unhappy, it’s because you expect to be rich tomorrow. Outside of that reaction, the news this week is undeniably positive, and price will reflect that fact over the long-term.
News from ICON World
RHIZOME team lead shares a few thoughts about PASS and it’s relationship to MyID
ICX_Station announces Bridge, a collaboration project with P-Rep teams Block42 and Parrot9
Magic, a passwordless authentication service integrates with ICON
Ricky Dodds teases upcoming projects that will be building with Bridge
ICONLOOP and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province will build a blockchain DID-based Jeju-type tourism quarantine system together for COVID-19 Contact Tracing
RHIZOME has been working on further animation for deploying citizen nodes on GCP
Why ICONPOOL could be a game changer for the ICON ecosystem
VisitMe has surpassed over 200 applicants and 30k users
Markus of ICON Hyperconnect shares a few of his thoughts surrounding the significance of MyID and Jeju partnership
Blockchain Industry News
VC-Backed Crypto Exchange Mexo Launches in Latin America - CoinDesk
According to a statement from the firm, Mexo will offer a range of services to its Latin American users including spot trading, contract trading, P2P lending, and a trading academy.
Steem vs Tron: The rebellion against a cryptocurrency empire - Decrypt
It wasn’t just a pipe dream. Notestein had the technical expertise, a willing community and no obstacles in his way. The bomb that was the ninjamined stake had exploded, causing a difficult—and expensive—fallout, and obliterating a once thriving community.
South Korea’s Crypto-Friendly Island Selects ICON for Coronavirus Tracing App - BTC Manager
ICON, a South Korean player in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, announced that Jeju Island, the country’s most popular domestic tourist destination, will use its Decentralized Identity (‘DID’) blockchain technology to provide private, secure COVID-19 contact tracing to the island’s 15 million annual visitors.
INX Exchange Launching SEC-Registered Hybrid Token/Share IPO This Week - Cointelegraph
Gibraltar-based crypto exchange INX will launch its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on Aug 24, 2020, after a two year journey. The exchange aims to sell 130 million tokens at $0.90 netting up to $111 million after expenses according to its latest filingwith the SEC.