Iconomi, the first-ever fund management platform for blockchains and cryptocurrencies, today announced that approximately $5.8 million in equity and operational capital had been raised through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Developed by the team at Cashila, one of the first registered bitcoin companies in Europe, Ethereum-based ICONOMI is creating a disintermediated alternative to the multi-billion dollar fund management industry, “uberizing” traditional Wall Street. ICONOMI’s extraordinary potential has led more than 2,270 investors to raise more than $5.8 million thus far. In 31 days, ICONOMI has become the 20th most highly capitalized crowdfunding project to date.
Potential investors have three more days to invest before the ICO closes on September 29, 2016. At its close, ICO token holders will exercise 100% ownership of ICONOMI.
Backers of the ICO will be issued “ICN” tokens that function as equity shares in a new type of fund management platform specifically focused on blockchain, the fastest growing sector in finance. According to CoinMarketCap.com, total existing cryptocurrencies are now valued at over $12 billion, rising from $7 billion at the beginning of this year. For the first time, investors will be able to participate in this rapidly growing market by investing in actively or passively-managed ICONOMI funds.
With full transparency, ICONOMI will provide the foundation, infrastructure, and guidelines for funds offered on their platform, with varying levels of expected yield and risk profiles. The first ICONOMI funds were revealed last week at Ethereum’s Devcon2 in Shanghai: ICONOMI.INDEX, an index investment fund comprised of a basket of popular cryptocurrencies that minimizes volatility, and ICONOMI.PERFORMANCE, an actively managed fund targeting higher yields and run by credentialed, expert traders. The ICONOMI Cryptocurrencies Index (ICNX) is now available for investor review, and both funds are expected to launch in Q4 2016. Additional, custom funds created by prominent traders will be available in 2017.
Unlike with traditional managed funds, ICONOMI investors will be able to easily withdraw or liquidate their holdings at any time, 24/7, through the sale of ICONOMI tokens on major exchanges or at any POS terminal through the use of the ICONOMI Visa debit card, which will be linked to account owner’s share of ICONOMI investment funds. All fiat funds are held at a regulated, insured, major bank and all cryptocurrencies are held by trusted escrow partners with multisig wallets. Asset security is paramount for ICONOMI developers, who have instituted state-of-the-art practices including a unique ICONOMI hardware random key generator, the extensive use of encryption, and multifactor authentication for withdrawals.
ICONOMI token owners, or shareholders, will earn weekly profit dividends in the form of ETH as soon as ICONOMI funds are launched. Dividends will come from the trading fees of investment funds under the management of ICONOMI and from the fees of investment funds of independent traders, listed on the ICONOMI fund management platform and in accordance with the fee split schedule.
Investors with fiat currencies purchasing tokens in ICONOMI’s ICO are subject to EU-wide AML/KYC compliance standards requiring supplementary verification for additional tiers of investment.
Tim M. Zagar, co-founder and Director of Operations & Business, said, “ICONOMI’s success is proving that the idea of ‘uberization’ is best for far more than consumer-level services. There is tremendous demand for a platform like ICONOMI to cut out the middleman, lowering the barrier to entry for investment into cryptocurrencies.”
Jani Valjavec, co-founder and Director of Technology & Trading, added, “What we’re seeing is that crowdfunding will be considered an option for capital raise in all sectors, even in industries as sophisticated as financial technology. With this funding, ICONOMI will have the resources to begin the inevitable disruption of finance.”