The next 18 months
Welcome to this week’s edition of the RHIZOME Wire!
Buckle up
It’s no secret that ICON’s price action lately has been a lot of fun to watch; but the upward movement is also raising expectations that the trend will continue over the short-term, with double-digit end-of-year price predictions creeping into Telegram and Twitter channels.
While I certainly enjoy the newfound optimism following the months of pessimism that reigned during the bear market, I also think setting expectations is important.
Many ICON community members came on board during the 2017 mega-bull run, which happened during the second half of 2017 and really ramped up toward the end of the year. In our memories, we seem to recall a token achieving 100x gains in just weeks. In some cases, that did happen. But the bull market itself didn’t last just a few weeks or months. It took more than a year to reach “fever” pitch.
Below is a chart of the total altcoin market. As you can see, it started its true upturn around the beginning of Q4 of 2015. It then hit a local top a little less than a year later, during the summer of 2016, before beginning its more parabolic climb throughout 2017.
Technically, the entirety of this process was a “bull run.” It just wasn’t the type of bull run some of us remember, with 20% daily gains for weeks on end.
So, you’re probably not getting your lamb next month—and maybe not even next year.
But, if we assume the future can repeat the past — and in crypto, this movie has played out multiple times before — then the next 1-2 years could be a time of immense opportunity and excitement.
But you don’t need to take my word for it. Here are a couple tweets from noted traders that predict the upcoming bull cycle:
Here’s a bit more on dave the wave’s perspective.
Whether or not you believe in technical analysis or not is up to you; but even aside from that, market cycles are a real thing, as has been shown by the stock market time and time again.
So what does this mean for ICONists?
As I alluded to above, if you’re expecting sky high prices to be right around the corner, I would encourage you to not do that.
I would also point out that it’s likely you’ll see red days, or even weeks, over the coming months. While many are still scarred from the bear market and may believe the red in their portfolio is a sign of impending doom, these dips ultimately end up getting wiped out in bull markets, inevitably to climb back up and higher over similar time frames.
Finally, I would say that this presents a wonderful opportunity for ICONists based on the staking rewards offered by the ICON network.
Let’s assume this bull market lasts 18 months, with the “top” hitting at that point (again, this is just a hypothetical assumption).
With the current reward rate set at 13.57% (as of this writing), this means that if you own 10,000 ICX and you re-stake your earned rewards on a weekly basis, you’d end up with a total of 12,250 ICX at that point — an increase of 22.5%. You could do this without doing any day-trading, swing-trading, or other risky maneuvers. You earn this simply by re-staking your earned rewards once a week.
Ideally, not only are you holding to ensure you capture the price increase over time, but your stack itself will increase by a healthy amount.
Meanwhile, over the next several months, it’s inevitable we will see more and more announcements from the my-ID alliance, and if they are anything like the first two, that means more news of $ICX adoption.
And what happens when the news of the adoption becomes actual adoption, and these institutions have to begin purchasing ICX? What happens when bull-market driven retail demand combines with enterprise demand?
That is when you’ll be glad you held and staked your rewards.
That is when it will be time to buckle up.
News from ICON World
ICON Weekly #4 – COVID-19 Contact Tracing with Zzeung and MyID on Jeju Island
Brian Li of RHIZOME went into depth on why the release of Zzeung and MyID is a big step for the ICON project and overall blockchain adoption in South Korea. If you haven’t checked it out, be sure to!
ICON Foundation passes Revision 10
While the attack was unfortunate, it’s a positive indicator that ICON is going to begin handling testnet and pursuing preemptive measures so as nothing like this will ever be able to happen again.
ICON Weekly updates are now in podcast form as well!
RHIZOME team member Brian Li has turned his weekly updates on ICON into a podcast format. If you haven’t listened already, be sure to listen and provide some feedback.
Shinhan Bank announces integration of ICONLOOP’s MyID
Min Kim also provided a lengthy tweet storm addressing the news.
RHIZOME will be having an AMA with the Crypto Vigilante Network community
If you want to learn more about ICON and win 500 ICX, be sure to join and participate!
20 days left for submissions to the ICON Hyperhack hackathon
Blockchain Industry News
ICON app offers remote KYC for South Korea’s second-largest bank - Cointelegraph
Zzeung is the only mobile app approved by the Financial Services Commission. "This issuance of KYC compliance certification with Shinhan Bank is of great significance because it is the first commercialization of DID services used in the financial sector in Korea,” said ICONLOOP CEO Jong-hyup Kim.
Digital Currency Group Enters the Bitcoin Mining Industry - Decrypt
Through a $100 million investment, DCG seeks to position Foundry as a bridge between mining hardware manufacturers and capital.
NYSE Can Allow Firms to Raise Funding Through Direct Listings, Says SEC - CoinDesk
Firms will be allowed the new listing on a case-by-case basis and must meet certain thresholds, including being likely to sell $100 million in shares on the first day of trading on the NYSE.
Binance.US Expands Into Florida, Eyeing Millions of Potential New Traders - CoinDesk
Binance.US chief Catherine Coley, who grew up in Orlando, told CoinDesk the two-year Florida license grants her exchange access to what is now its second-largest potential market: 12 million eligible traders.