Everything You Need to Know About ICON Network (ICX)

The blockchain industry has attracted millions of users over the years. A wide range of projects and networks are introduced by the developers to enhance the performance of this market. Still, they’re unable to attract a huge portion of the traditional market. The major problem is that the blockchain networks don’t interact with each other. In this article, we will see what ICON Network ICX is and how it is helpful.

Traditional businesses don’t see enough scope in this market. In the traditional economy, all the businesses use a local currency but they’re all connected to each other. And they can easily extract their desired information from another service provider if needed.

ICON Network is trying to solve this problem by establishing a trustless ecosystem while ensuring the interoperability and independence of the decentralized applications.

What is ICON Network (ICX)?

ICON is a smart contract-capable platform that enables developers to build decentralized applications on top of their network. The platform is dedicated to providing a new model of the digital economy where developers can create their own cryptocurrencies. The platform uses Citizen Nodes to connect a range of blockchain networks together.

It’s currently targeting various industries like healthcare, security, finance, and more. The platform supports a secure environment for storing and transferring data across the network.

What Makes ICON Network Different?

ICON Network uses decentralized identifier (DID) technology to ensure the platform’s security. It offers a range of other benefits that make it stand out.

Independence – Although the ICON network enables different applications to interact with each other, it gives them the freedom to define their own system of operation and policies. Thus, it eliminates the need for a third party while providing users with peace of mind by allowing them to operate on their own terms.

Fast Transaction – The transaction times are usually affected by the mediators and intermediaries that support transactions between networks. ICON network provides fast transaction speeds by eliminating these actors. Most of the time, the transactions are processed in real-time.

Lower Transaction Fees – The transaction fees increase when a huge number of transactions are waiting to be processed. ICON Network doesn’t have any such issues because it provides a smooth transfer of data and cryptocurrencies by interconnecting different blockchains.

Attractive Rewarding – ICON Network offers ICX tokens as a reward when Citizen nodes successfully validate a transaction.

Improved Security – Over the years, some blockchain networks have experienced system breakdowns, hacking attacks, and cyber bugs. ICON Network has established a strong decentralized environment where multiple participants help with keeping the network secure. It ultimately prevents hacking attacks and other such problems.

ICON Network Brief History

ICON Network was introduced by a South Korean-based company called Icon Foundation in 2017. The team raised around $43 million worth of ETH tokens during an initial coin offering in September 2017. The company released 50 percent of the total supply during this ICO.

The mainnet was officially launched in January 2018. Following Ethereum’s model, ICON Network introduced IRC16, standardized tokens, in 2019. With a goal of becoming one of the leading decentralized economies, ICON Foundation has introduced a range of amazing features over the years.

Important Features of ICON Network

ICON Republic – ICON Republic is a network of operators who regularly monitor the minting of new ICX tokens. This team is elected by Community Representatives. However, these operators don’t manage individual communities.

Community Representatives (C-Reps) – The community representatives are responsible for representing communities within the ICON Republic.

Citizen Nodes – The node operators are responsible for verifying transactions on ICON Republic or within a particular community. They actively help with keeping the network secure. And they receive ICX tokens as a reward. Unlike other members of the community, they don’t have any voting rights.

Community Nodes – As the name suggests, these node operators handle the transactions of each community.

Real-Life Application – ICON Network is dedicated to taking a huge chunk of traditional finance. Businesses can confidently store their high-profile personal data on this platform. Similarly, hospitals can securely maintain the records of their patients.

DApp Creation – The developers can build and host decentralized applications on this network using a set of tools.

ICON Community – ICON communities can define their own rules including node numbers, government structure, decision-making committee, and more.

How Does ICON Network Work?

ICON Network randomly chooses the nodes to add new blocks with the help of delegated Proof of Contribution (DPoC) consensus mechanism. It’s a modified version of the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism aimed at providing better efficiency and democracy.

The ICX token holders need to deposit their tokens in the voting pool if they want to choose a delegate. The platform uses Loopchain to establish strong and secure communication between different applications. Moreover, it incorporates the Loop Fault Tolerance algorithm to handle hacking attempts.

ICON Network Tokenomics

ICX is the native token of the ICON network that is primarily used to request information from other applications. The users also pay ICX tokens as transaction fees. Moreover, the ICX token holders can choose node operators to create the next block.

With a circulating supply of 953.8 million tokens, ICX has a market cap of $295.7 million. It ranks among the 200 best cryptocurrencies in terms of market cap.

Conclusion

ICON network is a blockchain network that offers smart contract capability along with excellent interoperability. It uses delegated Proof-of-Contribution consensus mechanism to process transactions. It provides fast transaction speed with a reasonable transaction fee. It can easily accommodate the needs of traditional markets including healthcare, security, and finance.

If you need more information about how ICON network works, feel free to get in touch with us. Also, we invite you to subscribe to our weekly newsletter if you need regular updates about Bitcoin and crypto market.