🔑THEKEY(TKY): Digital identity better than Civic 🎫 The first ICO that I may participate in ever (NEO based ICO) 👍
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There are a lot of really interesting ICO's and projects coming up on the NEO platform, and one of them is THEKEY (TKY). THEKEY is an Identity Verification Tool using a combination of big-data and blockchain technology. THEKEY will have an ICO on the NEO blockchain starting from february, and has already started pre-sales.
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WHAT IS THEKEY:
THEKEY offers a way to verify users' identity through the blockchain, and can be likened to the well-known Ethereum based competitor Civic. The personal identity management (PIM) market was about $6.5 billion USDin 2015 and is expected to grow to reach $34 billion USD in the next seven years.Identity Verification (IDV) plays an increasingly large role in our society, and you do it all the time on a daily basis. Whenever you do something that belongs to 'you' on the internet, you are in some way verifying your identity. This happens, for example, when you log onto something with a password. We all know the trouble of having several dozens of passwords, for different application. Each time when you log on, you 'solve' the login to prove that you are the owner of that account.
It happens a lot in real life too: When you make a payment for groceries, loyalty reward programs, signing up for subscriptions, and so on. Practically everything we do in life needs us to attach our identity to it, in some way, shape or form.
IDV solutions like Civic and THEKEY streamline this process into an all-in-one digital identity solution. By storing a single identity on the blockchain, and enabling other parties to connect to that, you create one digital identity that can be shared among all the others: One login and passphrase to rule them all?
Beyond ease of use, digital identities solve a lot of different problems as well. Through digital identities, you become the owner of your identity. Service providers that need to know certain information can receive that information, but only that information. The other personal data which they don't need, they won't get.
Additionally, when you've proved yourself to one participating service provider, there really is no need to prove yourself to all the service providers. For example, you may need to show your ID to open a bank account to prove you are a local citizen and over 18 years of age. The service provider will only receive 'Yes' or 'No' which is all they need, really. They will know you are above 18 years old, but they won't know exactly how old. They know you are a local, but don't know where you live locally. And so on.
Digital identities can also solve a lot of fraud and abuse issues. One could link a service such as Steemit to a form of digital identities, for example, to avoid account spamming: You'd need one digital identity per account, and that makes it a lot harder to set up a botnet of voting-bots unless you can find that many people to give you their identity for use, risking their own reputation of course.
Digital identities will be a big thing of the future, I believe: Governments and regulation do not like privacy and anonymity, but I do think they like digital identities to keep track of it all. I believe it is going to play a very large part in: passports, healthcare, insurance, taxes, voting, online identities, refugee tracking & care, and more.
It is, in some ways, what Leelo would call 'a multi-pass'
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BUT WHY THEKEY AND NOT CIVIC?
Good question! Civic is great, right? Right. Except, THEKEY looks to be better, or perhaps more promising. They both essentially try to solve the same problem and offer the same solutions, that much is true. THEKEY gives these answers on their FAQ:- More reliable results – The supporting data is gathered in real time, is comprehensive, accurate and reliable. The data is also validated in advance by government agencies or other public institutions.
- Lower cost - Full use of existing data sources. Avoidance of duplicate work for data collection, processing and authentication,
- Better user experience – It is not necessary for individual users to install any application or upload any information.
What it boils down to is that THEKEY is faster and offers real-time results, which is great, but the main point of interest in this comparison is the third one for me. Where Civic requires users to install an app to use it's services, THEKEY simply works with the existing internet framework: no apps required, and smooth adoption hurdle for new users. Only websites and service providers need to handle technical things in order for adoption to occur.
NEO & CHINA & IDENTITY
Firstly, I am bullish on NEO and one of the key core features of NEO is that of Digital Identities, to match their Digital Assets and Smart contracts. THEKEY essentially fulfills this promise of NEO, and as such is at the core of NEO's success or failure. Success of NEO almost means the same as success of THEKEY, and vice versa. So since I am so bullish on NEO, and I believe in their digital identity vision, I am also bullish on the implementation of that.And then there's the China factor. If there is any country in the world where I believe the government has a high stake in keeping an eye on their citizens, and where they do not like anonymity, corruption and fraud... it's China. China is known to like to keep a solid grasp on it's citizens, and the issues with fraud in China are widespread and wellknown. Not only do digital identities offer the government a solid tool for control and regulation, but it also solves a lot of pragmatic issues with fraud, tax evasion and other illegal activities, all the while still offering better privacy-protection to the users.
If there is any country that I see being on the forefront of adopting digital identity solutions, I think it's going to be China. Because they need it, and because they want it.
TKY TOKEN
The TKY token will be necessary to transact and perform smart contracts on the THEKEY network: In order to settle a smart contract, one needs a little bit of TKY. And since every aspect of life is in need of identity verification, like security check, access permission, medical treatment and shopping etc. the utility of TKY token will be extremely high.![dividerline cartooney2.png](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmVmKeFJZVR7A2hRwk6wYM5DiphcFJ8RmxvYpc8FWvhmNP/dividerline%20cartooney2.png)
AND HERE IS THE KICKER: CHINA IS ALREADY ADOPTING IT
THEKEY has a lot more things going for it. They list their greatest achievements so far, and if you didn't pay proper attention it's almost easy to read over it but there is quite significant information here. I highlighted some of the important parts, but there's so much important parts that it kind of needs to all be highlighted.- THEKEY’s first-generation IDV solution is currently in use for mobile social insurance pay in two pilot cities, which people can receive their payment for their pension, or healthcare insurance reimbursement. The IDV solution is currently being deployed in another 41 cities, covering more than 130 million people (!!!read this again!!!!!!).
- Personal identity data of 210 million people in 66 cities, authenticated by the relevant government authorities, are connected on a real-time basis. This constitutes a solid foundation of IDV.
- Commercial contracts signed with world-leading firms and the business model of our IDV products have already been partly proven.
- Six relevant national laboratories have been set up together with government agencies, banks, insurance companies and one university.
- 23 copyrights have been obtained, 15 patents have been accepted by SIPO (State Intellectual Property office of the P.R.C)
- The founder and CEO of THEKEY, Catherine (Xueli) Li has won "The Most Outstanding Women Entrepreneur in China of the Year (All-China Women’s Federation, 2017)"
Let me repeat that: THEKEY is currently IN USE in two pilot cities and being deployed in 41 cities, covering 130 MILLION PEOPLE. That is almost HALF the population of the USA that is ALREADY ADOPTING IT.
Furthermore, a total of 210 MILLION people in 66 cities are already connected in the database. Large corporations are already on board, universities and the governments are onboard. This project is a GO. And even though this all takes place in China (which is already huge), it doesn't stop there: the project aims to provide the same service globally and is already expanding to other countries.
Here is an interview with Catherine (Xueli) Li. It's quite long and the language barrier is a bit of a hurdle, but it's quite clear we are dealing with smart and professional people here. She also talks a lot about their plans for THEKEY:
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In other words: THEKEY is a highly interesting project with a very large chance to see real-world usage and adoption. Whereas Civic offers solutions, but faces uncertainty in terms of adoption, THEKEY seems to be two steps ahead and well on their way with implementation.
NEO and OnChain are official partners of the THEKEY project as well. THEKEY will in my opinion be integral to the NEO blockchain space, or atleast play a very large role in the Asian hemisphere. Another very interesting partner is: ANT FINANCIAL. You may have heard of this one, it used to be called AliPay and is an affiliate of Alibaba and it is THE most valuable fintech company in the world. There are more huge partners too, for example Ping An Insurance which is the world's most valuable insurer worth $204 billion USD. And the list goes on.
I normally don't invest in ICO's and never have invested in one, but this is the first ICO that I am considering investing in. I already have a bunch of NEO, and I see a lot of potential in this coin. Digital identities certainly have a place in the future, and THEKEY seems very much set up for success in this field.
ICO DETAILS
- Ticker: TKY
- Pre ICO Start: November 01, 2017
- Pre ICO End: January 15, 2018
- ICO Start: February 1, 2017
- ICO End: February 28, 2018
- Min transaction: 0.0001 BTC during ICO stage
- Token price: 1 BTC = 1,000,000 TKY
(see the token distribution model here)
After the ICO stage it is likely that TKY will first appear on the relatively new exchange Kucoin, which has been the main exchange where NEO-based projects like Red Pulse, DeepBrainChain and others are available for trading.
I am curious to know what you all think about this ICO! Is anybody else feeling the attraction and FOMO in this one as well? I know there is a pretty big hype building up around this one: There is a pretty good chance that because of popularity a lot of people will miss out on the ICO unless you are very timely about it.
>> To visit THEKEY's website and learn more, click here! <<
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I haven't heard about this one. Minimum 1 BTC in the pre-sale? That is a lot. Also quite some private rounds already. Well, at least with some lock-up periods.
I do like projects like Civic and this one, just not sure whether the timing is right. Might still be too early for these projects? Adoption requires trust and track record, especially in this area. What do you think?
That's for the pre-sale though!
The actual ICO is listed at having a 0.0001 BTC minimum contribution.. which is actually super low! See here for details
Thanks for pointing this out, will update the article.. it is confusing in my list now, will change it
And adoption seems well on it's way with this one: 130 million users!
That is indeed a low minimum for an ICO :-)
What does 130 million users mean? Accounts? Are they using it? Is it the total of inhabitants of the cities that are now implementing it and therefore more like potentially connected users? I mean, it sounds nice, but it is tricky to call use the term 'users'. Sounds good for marketing purposes though.
Adoption on the user side is actually not even the biggest challenge. Adoption on the institutions and companies part is what is difficult to scale without trackrecord I think.
Anyways, I haven't done a lot of research on this one. Just some first thoughts ;-)
Well, two cities are running pilots and using the system as we speak, and it is being deployed in another 41 cities, covering more than 130 million people total. That they all start using the THEKEY service and completely foregoing past methods is unlikely of course, but I do think the government and many parties (like the huge multinationals) are going to push for it's usage.
The adoption on the instutions and company side is well on their way. They have some of the biggest companies on board, not just the biggest of China but in some regards in the world. ANT Financial alone is huge (biggest fintech in the world), and they've got major insurers onboard (among which the biggest insurer of the world), etc. Not to mention of course the government itself, which is helping deploy this system across all these cities.
Adoption and instutional backing is one of my prime reasons for wanting to invest in this.
Hmm, it starts to sound more solid than it appears :-) Has more to offer from the start compared to most ICOs then.
Hope this will turn out to be an insanely good call by you for 2018!
There's definitely more to this one, yes!
The only thing that's keeping me back, and has kept me back from Civic also, is that even though I'm certain there will be many 'transactions' in the form of ID verification... I think these will be tiny microtransactions worth very little money, or else the system would not work.
As the transactions are small, the miner fee likely is too. Since usage of the token in part explains the value proposition, if you need less tokens to transact, then the token probably has a low value. I wouldn't be able to make a clear case why it would make sense to want to own a lot of Civic or TKY tokens, beyond speculative reasons. Other projects have a more clear value proposition.
So this one will fall somewhere in between my play money investment, and my 'serious investments' in terms of value.
I like the fact that you dig down to the business model and fundamentals. This is key for the long term :-)
When I look at practically all tokens that have some form of utility (because they don't want to be classified as a security), none will generate substantial revenues from fees combined with a high price per token unless half of the world will use it/half of their respective target industry uses it. Based on the fundamentals you wouldn't buy any of the tokens right now (yet, we all do). But luckily we're in a speculative phase, so even though I always look at fundamentals, it does not seem to matter that much. Only in the very long run, which in crypto is probably something like 12-18 months, those have a better chance of survival :-P
Thanks! Yes, I think the fundamentals are key for the long term.. when the hype dies out and the bubble bursts.
Of course it's all speculation in one way or another.. even if the whitepaper says X or the website lists Y partner, who knows where it will lead us?
But using a certain guesstimate sounds a lot better of a foundation to invest money in than just blind gambling.. and since I'm not that rich in RL, I need to make sure that every dollar I invest counts and doesn't go to waste!
As for long term survival.. even that is speculative. Look at Dogecoin. It has never been anything but a shitcoin, even since it's inception, yet it is bigger than ever! It has never been a good idea to invest in Dogecoin, yet it could have made one a millionaire several times over.. not just the recent rises, it has had rises before.
Sometimes it seems like you don't even need fundamentals; just patience..
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