28.03.2024

ICO Analysis: AppCoins

Furthermore, the platform aims to “implement the most common entity in every business process: a set of referenced contacts, signed and stamped documents, without any of the numerous drawbacks found in other bitcoin-style token-based solutions.”

Very few ICOs have generated more hype and pent-up demand than Universa, the blockchain project promising to improve on bitcoin and Ethereum through easy-to-produce smart contracts. At its core, Universa is an infrastructure project that could spearhead a much bigger ecosystem of cryptocurrency payments and related tokens.

As a next-gen blockchain platform, Universa uses contract execution technology and a distributed ledger to improve on existing cryptocurrency systems. These improvements are intended to to boost business adoption across all sectors of society.

This imperative is highlighted by the following quote:

Where traditional blockchains transact primarily in currencies, Universa is designed to
support token representation of everything from passports to boarding passes, bus tickets or taxi fares; they can be gift cards, vouchers, or gym membership cards. You might make a token representing your title deed, or just the keys to the house. (Whitepaper)

Universa’s developers describe the platform as a “thin” protocol as opposed to the fat client currently imposed by traditional blockchains. Essentially, this means that every change applied to a contract occurs in a separate contract chain called a “C-Chain”, as opposed to the existing protocol of stacking blocks to make a single ledger.

The Universa platform is designed to help businesses create a simple protocol for creating blockchains and apps, reduce transaction costs, increase transaction speeds and maintain liquidity and smart contracts on the blockchain. It is essentially a gateway for services that automatically input electronic documents to do so more effectively via smart contracts. Through this protocol, Universa promises to lower transaction costs on a safe and reliable platform.

Ultimately, Universa is an infrastructure project, which means it will serve as the groundwork for future projects that wish to integrate their tokens on the platforms. This means there is a lot riding on this project, and its success can certainly invigorate an entire community of blockchain developers.

Token Sale

The public sale of Universa’s token, UTN, began Oct. 28. up to $99 million USD is slated for acceptance at a price of $0.01 per token. A minimum purchase of $10 is required to participate in the crowdsale.

Funds raised through the project will go mainly toward the Universa protocol, marketing and development and its foundation, which includes OpenBackend, Blockchain Academy and CryptoNation.

The token sale will run until Dec. 12, giving investors plenty of time to enter should they find UTN a worthwhile investment.

Team

Universa is led by the talented Alexander Borodich, who is a technology investor and managing partner of VentureClub. He is also the former head of marketing at Mail.ru Group, which is Russia’s largest technology company.

The leadership team also includes Sergey Chernov, former CTO at Cybiko and 17-year veteran of cryptography, as well as Alex Dovnar, who has spent 20 years in digital marketing. The team has 20 core staff, including developers, event managers, system administrators and a crypto-mathematician (really cool!).

It should also be noted that Universa has landed the services of one John McAfee, who became a project adviser.

Verdict

There’s very little not to like about Universa. As a distributed system for smart contracts, it has the potential to become a digital currency provider without depending on the mining process.

Risks

  • Is Universa asking for too much? There is some concern in the investment community that anybody who wants in on this massive capital raise will be able to enter. It is not yet clear whether this will backfire by lowering demand for the token. -1
  • Russian ICO projects have struggled to get off the ground. Combined with a less than certain regulatory outlook has lead some to question the viability of this massive undertaking. We’ve already seen Chinese projects suffer as a result of ICO bans. Russian authorities have given mixed signals about what they intend to do with coin offerings. -2.5

Growth Potential

  • The Universa platform is a whopping 60 times faster than Ethereum and much, much faster than bitcoin, thereby enabling more extensive use in the business world +3
  • The platform works as a distributed system for smart contracts, which makes it much faster, cheaper and safer than the leading blockchains. It is said that Universa can provide 10,000 transactions per second, compared to just 15 for Ethereum and six for bitcoin. +3
  • Universa has strong use case potential, and is considered a strong candidate for business adoption. This is especially the case when you consider its solutions for instant payment transparency, transfer of ownership and support for several business processes. +3
  • Universa’s partnership with John McAffee is a huge plus for the project and its credibility. +2

Disposition

Universa is widely considered to be Russia’s most promising ICO. The company expects the token sale to generate $100 million. Based on its outstanding technical specifications, real-world applications and investor hype, that figure is certainly attainable.

Against this backdrop, we give Universa a score of 7.5 of out 10, putting it among our best-rated ICOs. Although the ICO has already started, investors still have plenty of time to capitalize.

Investment Details

  • Type: Crowdsale
  • Symbol: UTN
  • Pre-Sale: Sept 2017
  • Opening Sale: Oct. 28, 2017
  • End Date; Dec. 9, 2017
  • Platform: Ethereum/Custom
  • Exchange Rate: $1 USD = 100 UTN
  • Maximum ICO Market Cap: $99 million USD
  • Total Supply: 14 billion UTN (10 billion in circulation)
  • Payments Accepted: Ethereum (ETH)

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