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Blockchain ICOs are no longer just for new business, as Worldcore prepares a token sale to boost its market presence.
Leveraging the power of ICOs is a habit of brand-new startups, or even just projects – but the phenomenon is turning into something bigger.
The ability of small groups – in fact anyone – to now issue a digital token and potentially make millions of dollars is a mixed blessing for the Blockchain industry.
While the average entrepreneur now has more power than was imaginable even two years ago, ease of access to funds in a nascent industry has led to major concerns.
Full-on ICOs, empty promises
Well-known investment figures, both in Blockchain and beyond, have released formal warnings to members of the public eyeing chances to create profits of their own.
Investing in a project promising everything yet nothing – with little proof of concept, for example – is the kind of risk critics say could ultimately undermine the network supporting it, the Ethereum Blockchain.
Such is the pace of the ICO market, however, that in the second half of 2017 extant businesses are looking at using their benefits to both increase the strength of their financial outlook and lend sincerity to ICOs themselves.
In the past week alone, prominent investor Mark Cuban and entrepreneur Kim Dotcom have both signalled their involvement in ICOs.
Worldcore’s ICO entry into Blockchain dominance
In Fintech, meanwhile, the race continues to secure the kind of funding that could propel any platform to the scale of Ripple and beyond.
One of them, Worldcore, a ‘traditional’ non-Blockchain based platform, is seeking to use an ICO as an entry point to competing with Blockchain money transfer platforms such as BitPay and Bitwala.
“Blockchain is just a natural extension for us,” CEO Alex Nasonov told Cointelegraph.
Worldcore aims to undercut banks, banking disruptors such as TransferWise and FairFX, and soon the technologically innovative operators heavily involved with cryptocurrencies.
Offering both payments and consumer spending options such as a prepaid debit card, the company is already accepting Bitcoin as a funding option, the first step in a Blockchain rollout which will occur incrementally over several years as the technology improves.
Other aspects of using Worldcore are already decidedly more innovative than standard banking disruptors.
Biometric account access in the form of face and voice recognition replaces passwords, while Blockchain offerings themselves will take the form of a payment gateway reminiscent of Ripple.
“Products will include a regulated Blockchain-powered P2P lending platform, a Blockchain-based cash transfer platform for quick conversion of cryptocurrencies into cash and vice-versa, and transformation into a Swiss bank with a further IPO on the London Stock Exchange,” a press release about the plans continues.
Like Bitcoin, fees aren’t everything
Aiming to establish a product with a virtually unlimited user base, Worldcore joins startups such as Vinny Lingham’s Civic in using distributed funding to secure its roadmap.
For an all-inclusive offering, however, some aspects could be challenging for more scrupulous users. Worldcore’s fee structure, for example, is noticeably more complex than that of Bitcoin-based prepaid cards from Bitwala, ANX and others.
“Some fees are high and some are low,” Nasonov concedes, “but our advantage is that we offer most of the possible payment products inside one platform, so our coverage is much higher than our competitors provide.”
The payoff appears to be worth it. Like Bitcoin, users are more than happy to pay more for something solid, and Worldcore’s platform has already passed the break-even point ahead of its token distribution. Worldcore’s revenue and transaction volume growth statistics for almost two years confirm a time-proven successful business model and team professionalism – the company just needs to scale the business, launch a wide range of new payment products, and boost its growth rate. Its mission is to turn into a billion-value company before 2020, which doesn’t seem to be that far off, seeing as Worldcore’s annual transaction volume for 2017 will already exceed €100 mln and most likely will hit the €150 mln mark according to current statistics.
Tokens hit the market on Oct. 2, as a pre-sale for major investors subject to a minimum purchase of 500,000 tokens, each token being worth $0.10. A second phase, subject to a minimum buy-in for anyone of just $10, will launch two weeks later on Oct. 14.
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