Module Nine: History of ICON 

Lesson 1: Early Beginnings of ICON 

The History of ICON began during 2015 by the DAYLI team and universities in Korea when they formed a company called The Loop. DAYLI is a fintech organization well known for its focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI).

 ICON is a project developed by a Korean company named The Loop. The engineering team of The Loop began its research and development from June 2015. The Loop is a joint venture formed between DAYLI and 3 Korean universities. The Loop’s parent company is DAYLI Financial Group.

During mid-2017, the DAYLI team embarked on creating an open-source platform; this was the beginning of ICON. They intended for the network to be able to accommodate other blockchains and communities.

The DAYLI leadership sought financial backing from a bank to launch the initial protocol. They also planned to run test by the third quarter of 2017.  

Not much is known about the early banking relationship. 

Lesson 2: ICONLoop 

The starting company called The Loop is now known as ICONLoop. In 2017, starting in the fourth quarter, the ICON developers announced that it had created 400 million native ICO tokens. They called the tokens ICX.  

ICON’s vision was to allow people to use ICX to pay directly to organizations for services and products. Those organizations would be partners on the ICON Network. ICX would essentially be the currency used in the real world for various products and services. 

Lesson 3: ICON and ICX 

The complete blockchain network is called ICON. ICX is the associated cryptocurrency token or coin. ICON’s primary purpose is to facilitate the connection and interaction of blockchain software programs through the network. 

It was September 20th 2017 when the ICO team held its pre-sale event. The ICO pre-sale lasted only about six hours because of high demand. In October of the same year, ICX began to trade on the exchanges. 

Lesson 4: ICX Distribution  

During the ICO only 50% of the available tokens were offered for sale. Of the remaining unsold tokens, 16% were put into an ICO reserve; 14% were given to the ICON foundation; early contributors and advisors received 10%; and another 10% were reserved for strategic partners. 

At the start of 2018, ICON’s value dropped steadily from $9 to less than $5 by the end of January. The ICO team, and community, remained optimistic that later during 2018, and the years ahead, the value of ICON would continue with tremendous growth.

Lesson 5: Who Created ICON?

DAYLI Financial Group created the ICON project. A Japanese and South Korean based financial company, DAYLI focuses primarily on artificial intelligence, smart contracts, and blockchain technology. 

The DAYLI group wanted to ensure that all people could readily identify with, and become part of, blockchain technologies. 

Lesson 6: ICONLoop 

During the early development stages, and ongoing, DAYLI collaborated with partners, including ICONLoop Inc. These associations helped to make the ICON project more successful. 

ICONLoop, a South Korean based company, focuses on developing blockchain engines. Other partners included experts Jason Best, Don Tapscott, Ismail Malik, and Cho Yiseul.