What Is ICON (ICX) How It Works & Where To Buy It?

ICON is an innovative protocol that is designed to allow the interaction of independent blockchains. The blockchain project aims to create a digital nation where ”communities” can interact and benefit from a streamlined blockchain system.

ICX is the native utility and governance token of the South-Korean Icon protocol and is utilized to power the blockchain network.

The ICX token is currently the 105th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

Sections

How ICON (ICX) Works

ICON doesn’t rely on mining to achieve consensus and add new blocks to the network as many traditional cryptocurrencies do. Instead, Icon utilizes a delegated Proof of Contribution consensus mechanism to secure its network, where nodes are tasked with adding new blocks to the blockchain.

Delegated Proof of Stake, which is a subset of DPoC, is seen as being more effective and optimized than the original Proof of Stake protocol. DPoS allows network users, or nodes, to vote on and choose which delegate will validate a block after them. The delegate selection process is relatively straightforward ad involves the contribution of tokens into a voting pool in favor of a certain delegate.

The ICON Network is made up of five key parts:

The Icon Republic – The Icon Republic is essentially the governance structure of the protocol. The Icon Republic makes key decisions regarding the protocol. To vote on these changes, an individual needs to be a community representative.
Icon Communities – Icon Communities are typically independent blockchains. Once there is a collection of communities, they are referred to as a ”consortium”.
Community Representatives – These are essentially nodes that each community has selected. They are tasked with interaction in the ICON republic. Nodes are rewarded with ICX for their contributions. The ICON price is dependent on supply and demand.
Community Nodes (C-Nodes) – These nodes are essentially tasked with governance and maintenance of communities.
Citizen Nodes – These are nodes that can perform actions in the ICON network but don’t have any unique voting rights.

The Icon Foundation is the organization that is actively working to improve the blockchain protocol, manages various cryptocurrency networks, and also owns a portion of ICON’s token supply.

Individuals seeking more information about the ICON network can refer to the ICON whitepaper.

What Is ICON (ICX) Used For?

ICX is actively used as a utility, governance, and reward token in the ICON ecosystem. Essentially, the ICX token plays an integral role in also acting as a neutral medium of transfer in the ICON network.

Where To Buy ICON (ICX) Token

ICX is one of the more well-known cryptocurrencies and has been around for several years. The blockchain project is among the more innovative and unique models, and this has attracted a considerable amount of attention to the project.

ICX tokens are commonly traded on most centralized crypto exchanges. Before you’re able to purchase ICX, you’ll need to deposit fiat money onto an exchange; sequentially, ICX tokens will then be credited to your digital wallet on the exchange.

The crypto exchanges below are amongst the safest place where you can buy, sell and store tokens.

Crypto token holders typically transfer their tokens to a digital wallet. By doing so, holders can easily connect their wallets to various decentralized platforms and utilize profitable DeFi products.

Users are advised to remove their tokens from centralized exchanges as doing so gives them complete control over their crypto tokens and private keys.

None of the abovementioned information is investment advice.

About ICON (ICX)

How long has ICON (ICX) existed?

ICON’s cryptocurrency, ICX, was sold at an initial coin offering (ICO) in September 2017. The ICO was successful and managed to raise more than $43 million. 50% of the total supply of ICON tokens were sold in this auction. The token price in the ICO was 1 ETH = 2500 ICX.

Participants in the initial coin offering (ICO) were sent their ICX token allocation in June 2018, a few months after the project’s blockchain was launched in January 2018.

What’s controversial about ICON (ICX)?

The worldwide crypto industry is infamous for being poorly regulated. Users should always exercise caution and obtain as much knowledge as they can about the basics of cryptocurrencies and blockchain before investing.

Let’s take a look at the top controversy surrounding ICON (ICX):

ICX Exploit and Court case – The blockchain space is no stranger to exploits, scam projects, and bad actors. In the case of the Icon project, there have been a significant amount of events that have led to people calling the project controversial.
One of these events involves Mark Shin, who managed to mint 13 million ICX tokens by taking advantage of a vulnerability in the code. At the time, the ICX he minted was valued at more than $13 million. Consequently, the Icon team froze his assets, leading to a court case and a prolonged dispute between the two parties.

The case still hasn’t been resolved, and Shin is disputing the claims made against him and trying to regain ownership of the assets he was able to mint.

How many ICON (ICX) Tokens are there?

At the time of writing, Icon (ICX) has a circulating supply of 919,483,096.00 ICX

The total supply of Icon (ICX) is 926,210,351

Can ICON (ICX) be mined?

Icon tokens can’t be mined. Instead, the protocol uses a proof-of-contribution (PoC) consensus mechanism to secure its network and removes the possibility of mining ICX.

Many websites claim to offer ICX mining services, but these websites are falsely advertising their services. It isn’t possible to mine ICX, but it is possible to stake ICX and earn yields from staking ICX tokens.

Users must store their ICX tokens in a digital wallet that they can use to easily connect to the decentralized platform of their choice to use these DeFi products. Decentralized exchanges built on Binance’s Build-and-Build chain, such as Pancakeswap, are among the most widely used decentralized exchange. Users prefer these DEXs because they offer transactions that are easy, affordable, and reliable.

Some centralized exchanges allow users to earn yields from staking their ICX tokens.

What is the market cap of ICON (ICX)?

The market cap of ICON (ICX) is: the total amount of coins in circulation x the current market price of ICX.

ICON (ICX) Market Cap = 919,483,096.00 ICX x $0.2897 = $266 million (105th largest market cap)

ICX is currently one of the top 150 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

Biggest Competitors Of ICON (ICX)

Even though Icon has established itself as a leader in the cryptocurrency industry, several other projects aim to provide similar services to users. The protocol has expanded considerably since its start, but it has to be incredibly innovative if it wants to capitalize on the growth and investment prospects in the crypto industry.

Icon’s biggest competitors are:

Quant
Cosmos
Nervos Network

What Are The Future Plans of ICON (ICX)?

Icon will focus strongly on expanding its user base, enhancing the utility of its native token, and bringing bridging issues that have led to a disjointed crypto framework. The team will also concentrate on establishing more listing, marketing campaigns, and creating revolutionary ideas for the project.

The project aims to improve the adoption of the Icon republic, bolster the number of community nodes, upgrade the Icon software where necessary, and grow the number of Icon communities.

Pros And Cons Of ICON (ICX)

Pros:

Innovative Concept – The Icon network leverages an array of innovative products and models, utilizing smart contracts to achieve a unique decentralized ecosystem. The structure of the project and its aims are huge, and if the team can efficiently grow the project’s reach and accessibility, it will result in mainstream adoption.
Energy-efficient – The protocol utilizes a proof-of-contribution consensus algorithm to achieve optimal functionality. This consensus mechanism is much more energy-efficient than other traditional proof-of-work mechanisms, which are incredibly time intensive and energy-intensive.
Listed On Major Exchanges – ICX tokens are available on most centralized exchanges. Individuals can easily trade ICX tokens on Binance, Kraken, and KuCoin. Most individuals trust a project more if it is listed on multiple reputable crypto exchanges. Additionally, it adds a layer of credibility and trust to the project.

Cons:

Slow Adoption – The Icon project has been around for several years but it hasn’t necessarily managed to onboard a significant amount of users and become a significant competitor in the blockchain space.
Many emerging projects have managed to establish themselves, amass massive communities and provide solutions and products which are utilized daily. Icon will need to consider making some changes and incorporating new methods if it aims to be one of the top projects (at least by market cap).
Inaccessibility – The project relies on users utilizing the DEX of the project to facilitate trade in the Icon ecosystem. This is seen as relatively restrictive because the majority of retail investors prefer to use centralized exchanges, mainly because they’re inexperienced in using DEXs and trust CEXs more.
A large portion of people have been deterred from using the project because of the intricacies and extensive knowledge required to use a decentralized exchange. Many individuals believe that will continue to plague the project and severely affect the adoption of the Icon network.