‘Uber for fund mgmt.’ ICONOMI raises over $10.5m

ICONOMI, the first-ever fund management platform for blockchains and cryptocurrencies, has raised more than US$10.5 million through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

More than 3,480 investors participated in the funding.

“ICONOMI’s success is proving that the idea of ‘uberization’ is useful for more than just consumer-level services. There is tremendous demand for a platform like ICONOMI to cut out the middleman, lowering the barrier to entry for investment into cryptocurrencies,” Tim M. Zagar, co-founder and director of operations & business, said in an earlier press release CoinReport received.

Developed by the team at Cashila, one of the first registered bitcoin companies in Europe, Ethereum-based ICONOMI is creating a disintermediated alternative to the multi-billion dollar fund management industry, “uberizing” traditional Wall Street, said the company in the release.

ICO token holders exercise 100% ownership of ICONOMI.

On October 9, backers of the ICO will be issued “ICN” tokens that function as equity shares in ICONOMI.

According to CoinMarketCap.com, total existing digital currencies are now valued at over $12 billion, rising from $7 billion at the year’s beginning. For the first time, said the platform in the release we received, investors [were] able to participate in this rapidly growing market by investing in actively or passively-managed ICONOMI funds.

Jani Valjavec, co-founder and director of technology & trading, said, “What we’re seeing is that crowdfunding will be considered an option for capital raise in all sectors, even in industries as sophisticated as financial technology. With this funding, ICONOMI will have the resources to begin the inevitable disruption of finance.”

The company says that with full transparency, it will provide the foundation, infrastructure and guidelines for funds offered on its platform with varying levels of anticipated return and risk profiles. The first ICONOMI funds were unveiled in the third week of September at Ethereum’s Devcon2 in Shanghai: ICONOMI.INDEX, an index investment fund made up of a basket of popular cryptocurrencies that reduces volatility, and ICONOMI.PERFORMANCE, a vigorously managed fund aiming higher returns and run by credentialed, knowledgeable traders. The ICONOMI Cryptocurrencies Index (ICNX) is now available for investor review, and both funds are expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2016, said the company, adding custom funds created by prominent traders will be available in 2017.

Unlike with conventionally run funds, ICONOMI investors will be able to conveniently withdraw or liquidate their holdings at any time, 24/7, through the sale of ICONOMI tokens on major exchanges or at any POS terminal through the use of the ICONOMI Visa debit card, which will be linked to account owner’s share of ICONOMI investment funds, said the release.

All cryptocurrencies are held by trusted escrow partners with multisig wallets, while all fiat funds are held at a regulated, insured, major bank, said ICONOMI, which added that asset security is of utmost importance for its developers, who, it says, have instituted state-of-the-art practices including multifactor authentication for withdrawals, the extensive use of encryption and a unique ICONOMI hardware random key generator.

Once ICONOMI funds are launched, the token owners, or shareholders, will earn weekly profit dividends in the form of ETH, with the dividends arriving from the trading fees of investment funds under ICONOMI management and from the fees of investment funds of independent traders, listed on the ICONOMI fund management platform and in accordance with the fee split schedule, said the press release.

Investors with fiat currencies purchasing tokens in ICONOMI’s ICO are subject to EU-wide AML/KYC compliance standards requiring supplementary verification for additional tiers of investment applies to investors that purchased tokens in ICONOMI’s ICO with fiat currencies.

Image – Courtesy of ICONOMI