2017 has seen a big uptick in ICO activity, with a record amount of funding for the second quarter of the year.
As more and more companies use this method of raising funds and building an active community through cryptocurrency, we’re left with more and more innovative ideas.
November looks set to continue the trend, with a series of exciting new ICOs set to launch in a variety of industries.
Here are the top three ICOs to keep an eye out for in the coming month.
Gladius
DDoS attacks are an increasingly big problem. In Q2 2017, 86 countries suffered DDoS attacks, a big increase on previous years.
These attacks involve hackers taking control of seemingly harmless devices like mobile phones and IoT gadgets, and forcing them to access the internet and visit a particular site. If enough of these zombie devices visit the target site, the massive influx of traffic will overwhelm the servers and cause it to crash or suffer service issues.
The consequences can be dire; for big companies just a few hours offline can mean huge losses of money, and that’s without mentioning the damage done to their reputation. DDoS attacks are also tough to defend against, and current methods find it hard to turn away harmful traffic without blocking genuine customers at the same time.
Gladius, however, believes it has the solution. This ICO aims to create a decentralized network of users who can share their bandwidth with other members of the community. When a DDoS attack is directed at one member, the others can send extra bandwidth to them, bolstering their servers and helping them to withstand the avalanche of malicious traffic.
Since most people normally have a bit of spare bandwidth, there aren’t really any disadvantages to ‘renting’ some out to people in need. Users will also be rewarded with tokens, so the platform provides a neat opportunity to make money from their otherwise disused bandwidth.
CanYa
The home services industry is huge, estimated to be worth about $400 billion. However, current platforms for buying these services are pretty limited – fees are high and it can be tough to find reliable providers.
CanYa aims to change the way home services and digital services are bought and sold with its new autonomous marketplace. It aims to allow peer-to-peer, decentralized, trustless trading between those looking to buy services and those providing them.
A lot of service marketplaces today (such as UpWork and eLance) are centralized, which means all transactions and connections go through a central third party. This controlling body can set fees, impose rules, and decide who gets to use the platform.
With CanYa, there will be no need for a central body like this, so buyers can trade directly with sellers. It’s based on the idea of meritocracy – CanYa wants to ensure that the best providers get the most exposure and can set the highest rates.
This should incentivize reliable providers to use the service and keep their standards high, while reassuring users that they can expect high quality services.
By taking part in the marketplace, service providers earn the cryptocurrency CAN, which can be spent in the app or exchanged for free.
IndaHash
Influencers are quickly becoming a massive part of how online marketing is conducted. With the rise of social media, people and companies with a big following can reach enormous audiences and promote ideas and brands with ease.
Around 86% of marketers use influencer marketing and 57% say it performs better than professionally produced assets, as well as being significantly cheaper.
Big brands are understandably keen to get these high-profile personalities on their side, and IndaHash has carved out a niche as an intermediary between the two. Currently, it connects 300,000 influencers to brands in 70 different countries, and wants to keep expanding.
IndaHash’s new ICO plans to make the process of collaboration between brands and influencers easier. They’ll use their own indaHash coins to tokenize the industry, which will remove the barriers of cross-border transaction fees, promote easier interaction, and create a more tight-knit community.
The long-term aim is to enable influencers to compete with traditional media like TV and print publications, and help brands and influencers to manage their relationships more easily.
