A Random Bet on a South Korean Crypto Asset: ICX

This will be my first of probably many posts about the cryptocurrency ICX.

ICX was pitched to me by my friend Jack as one of those crazy undiscovered alt-coins. Alt-coins are essentially low market-cap cryptocurrencies not listed on major exchanges.

When I first heard that South Korea had a flagship cryptocurrency I was instantly drawn in. On my way to Vietnam in 2015, we had about a 36 hour lay over in Seoul which is the capital and the largest city in South Korea.

I vividly remember the airport experience. It had eye scanners and finger prints at several stations. The architecture was modern. I felt like I was in the future.

My experience with the people was quite similar. They prided themselves on being on the bleeding edge of technology and saw themselves at the epicenter of human innovation.

I share this context, because it was exactly the perspective I needed to take a look at ICX.

After watching a few YouTube videos online, I thought it was worth giving it shot. They had established some partnerships with some major Korean companies including Samsung as well as local governments which helped to legitimize it for me.

ICX isn’t traded on Coinbase, which is the app I used for my other cryptocurrency purchases. I needed to download an app called Voyager to be able to buy it.

I bought ICX at an average price of .51 cents during the spring of 2020.

The all-time-high for ICX was around $12 back during the crypto boom of late 2017. The market cap is currently around $600M and ICX is trading around .75 cents.

Since 2017, ICX has managed to create dozens of more partnerships with corporations and municipalities across Korea. They have launched applications on their ICX platform, built out a team and a governance system by which to manage ICX. Most recently they upgraded the underlying code of the currency for improved function.

ICX has been de-risked since it’s initial coin offering (basically like an IPO with very little paperwork) in 2017 and has demonstrated that it can be a real player in the crypto space. Many cryptocurrencies were “pump and dumps” which ultimately amounted to nothing.

I believe as ICX continues to mature, it could eventually be listed on Coinbase.

To me, this has the potential to 12X to it’s all-time-high and be one of those assets you wish you owned. Time will tell.

Most importantly, I am excited by the idea of betting on a cryptocurrency from South Korea. I think it’s a remarkable time to be alive when you have the opportunity to allocate capital in this way.