The Datawallet ICO has recently been announced, a project backed by Tim Draper which is sure to attract investors.
https://tokensale.datawallet.com

What is Datawallet?

They plan to revolutionize the data market. Data is much more valuable than most people realize, companies collect data and then resell it or keep it themselves to allow them to target their ads to customers who are most likely to buy.
Currently users are giving their data away for free and allowing large companies to profit from them. Datawallet aim to change this by allowing users to sell their data direct to companies themselves.

Whats the problem with the current market?

Currently most people aren't paid for their data despite it being one of the largest markets in the world.
Many big companies such as Facebook and Google create 'free' services as a way for them to collect more data on their users. This can create security concerns aswell as allowing them to profit from you without you receiving anything.
By collecting large amounts of data from you companies are able to better target their ads making it a huge business.

This data is then given to advertisers, for example you can easily log on to Facebook and set up an account for their paid ads service, you'll then see that it allows you to display your ads to people based on 100s of different criteria such as your income, job, marital status and even the types of food you like. This then allows the company to target their ads better which means that their ads will become more profitable, and then Facebook are able to charge more for their ads due to the increased conversion rates for their customers.
Most users are unaware how much the information they're inputting into 'free' services is worth, Datawallet hopes to change this by giving their users the chance to earn from the data they provide.

The Datawallet Solution

The new ecosystem will run on the blockchain on the Ethereum network and use smart contracts to create transparency between the user and the company wishing to purchase their data. This will also ensure a safe system that only distributes the users data to companies that the user will profit from.

Users will have the option of choosing who is able to purchase their data and what it will be used for and if they decide to sell it they'll then be paid from the profits that are generated from their data.
The new system also aims to provide benefits for companies who wish to purchase data., they'll be able to search for the exact type of data they want to buy and then will be able to monitor how it performs, the fact that the customer complied with selling them the data should also make it much more valuable to them.
The system will also be set up to allow real time sharing, to do this a user simply links their social media platforms to the platform and then chooses who can have access to their data. This should make the process simple for both parties.

The DXT Token

The new DXT token will be used for payments on the network, to purchase data a company will first have purchase the DXT token.
The token will be an ERC-20 token that runs on the Ethereum network, this allows them to use Ethereums smart contracts.
Once the user has earned tokens from selling their data they'll either be able to purchase items or have the option of exchanging it for fiat currency or other cryptocurrencies.

Founders

• Serafin Lion Engel, CEO: BSc in Business Administration from the Rotterdam School of Managment. He then studied at the Draper University for Entrepreneurs.

• Daniel Hawthorne, CTO: PhD in Cognitive Science from Stanford University.

Key Investors

• Tim Draper: Famous in the cryptocurrency world. He's famous for predicting that Bitcoin would hit $10k all the way back in 2014 when it was around $200, many ridiculed him for this at the time but it's actually turned out that his prediction was pessimistic with Bitcoin now hovering around $15,000. He's estimated to be worth around $1 billion.

• Marc Benioff: The CEO of Salesforce and estimated to be worth $4.8 Billion.

ICO Details

• The date for the sale hasn't been set yet but it should be starting soon.

• 750 million tokens for sale.

• $0.18 per token.

• Payment methods: BTC,ETH,BCH.

Datawallet Conclusion

It's been well known for a long time that companies are taking advantage of the data market with them profiting massively and the consumer receiving nothing, this new solution looks set to revolutionize the market, it will be interesting to see an idea of the amounts that each user will be able to earn with the system.
The main reason I plan to invest in the project is due to the investors who've got behind it. It's very rare for a cryptocurrency project to have 2 billionaires behind it before it's even launched.
Neither of them will want to ruin their reputation by backing a poor project.
You can view further details of the project in their whitepaper here but it is fairly technical:
https://tokensale.datawallet.com/pdf/datawallet_whitepaper.pdf

Website: https://tokensale.datawallet.com
ANN thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2385841.0