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ICO Alert Quick Facts
- Expanding financial inclusion for all, with mobile network operator partnerships
- 50% of tokens are issued incrementally over the next 5 years
- ICO: December 11, 2017 — February 11, 2017
- 5% of tokens reserved as bonus for presale contributors (min. $100,000 contribution)
- Can join a whitelist to ensure ICO participation
What is Telcoin?
Telcoin is a telecom-focused cryptocurrency with a mission of expanding financial inclusion by way of partnerships with mobile network operators. Telcoin aims to leverage the reach of mobile phones to rapidly scale access to cryptocurrency globally.
— Paul Neuner, Chairman and Co-founder
Q&A with the Team
ICO Alert: How does the Telcoin token function within the platform and why is it needed?
Telcoin: The Telcoin token is the actual cryptocurrency itself, in that token sale participants will be purchasing the same cryptocurrency that we will be marketing through mobile network operators. So as opposed to a purely speculative token, Telcoin will have great organic demand for the token as soon as mobile users start to use it for remittances and other use cases.
ICO Alert: AML regulations play an important role in the remittance industry. What changes would Telcoin like to see in the current AML landscape?
Telcoin: Telcoin will actively work with mobile network operators to leverage their existing KYC and fraud management capabilities to more efficiently satisfy AML compliance requirements with minimal friction for users.
ICO Alert: What sets Telcoin apart from other decentralized remittance applications? How does Telcoin plan to compete with traditional, global remittance providers — such as Western Union and Moneygram?
Telcoin: Telcoin will focus on remittances directly to mobile money accounts. By utilizing a token, we will be able to use token issuance to incentivize mobile network operators to low fee direct connection to mobile money platforms. We see this as our competitive advantage, partnering with telcos to enable instant, low fee transfers directly to mobile money accounts.
ICO Alert: Is the priority to remain on Ethereum’s blockchain, or to put the resources forth to develop Telcoin’s own blockchain or migrate to a more scalable one?
Telcoin: We would likely cooperate with our telco partners to choose a longer term option to migrate to that is more scalable and allows the telco operators themselves to efficiently process the bulk of transactions performed by their subscribers on their network.
ICO Alert: If Telcoin, as a mobile platform, is successful, is the company open to developing an Internet-based application to facilitate use on more stationary devices, such as desktop computers or laptops?
Telcoin: In the near term, we plan to stick with mobile applications only, but will likely have a limited feature web based application at some point in 2018.
ICO Alert: What telecoms providers have expressed interest in supporting the Telcoin platform?
Telcoin: Etisalat Group, Veon Group, MTN Group have all expressed interest in moving forward with pilot projects. We are close with three other major groups.
ICO Alert: How far along is the project today and when can contributors expect to use the platform? What does the roadmap look like for the rest of 2017 and 2018?
Telcoin: By way of our partnership with TenX, we will be able to start using Telcoin around a month after the ICO. By the end of Q2 2018 we expect to be connected to at least 10 mobile network operators, and by the end of Q3 2018 we expect to have broad global coverage via mobile money aggregator partners. We also plan to release our own Telcoin wallet in Q3 2018. Our goal is for 10 million people globally to have used Telcoin by the end of 2018.
ICO Alert: As a non-Telcoin question, we like to ask for unique predictions for the ICO and cryptocurrency space in the future. Where do you see both in the next 3–5 years?
Telcoin: Regarding cryptocurrencies, we see a future that is very wide open to a large number of tokens. Instead of the past where Visa and Mastercard needed to convince every merchant to accept their cards, we see more of a “bring your own crypto” ecosystem in the future. Regarding ICOs, we hope to see a maturing of self-auditing from the crypto community to filter ICOs and reduce the need for regulation to protect consumers. We are excited to be an active participant in the ecosystem in the future, and assist in scaling access to ICO participation globally via Telcoin and mobile operators.
Pre-ICO Information
There is a pre-ICO that is available for those wishing to purchase $100,000 or more worth of Telcoin. The pre-ICO will end when the ICO begins. In order to participate, contributors should reach out to the team on one of their social media channels below or email them at presale@telco.in.
5%of all tokens created are being reserved as bonus tokens for contributors who participate in the presale.
ICO Information
The ICO begins on December 11, 2017 and ends on February 11, 2017. The unit value of a coin will be calculated based on the total amount of funds raised during the pre-ICO and ICO phases. This total amount will stand for 22% of the coins in circulation, and so the unit price will be calculated as follows:
(Total funds raised across pre-ICO and ICO / 20%) / 100,000,000,000
For example, if $10,000,000 is raised:
($10,000,000 / 0.20) / 100,000,000,000 = $0.0005 per token
Bitcoin and Ethereum are accepted as contribution. 20% of the total tokens being created will be available during the ICO. There is a soft cap of $10,000,000 and a hard cap of $25,000,000. If the soft cap is not reached across the pre-ICO and ICO, refunds will be given to contributors.
There is a whitelist registration that can be completed by any contributor. The whitelist registration requires an email address, passport, and wallet address information in order to register. There is a minimum contribution amount of 0.3 Ether for the ICO.
Token Distribution Information
There are a total of 100,000,000,000 Telcoin tokens being created, with the following allocation occurring:
20%: Pre-ICO and ICO
5%: Pre-ICO bonus
50%: Issuance of Telcoin over a five year period
15%: Telcoin organization
5%: Telcoin foundation
5%: Liquidity fund
Use of Crowdsale Proceeds
The Telcoin team has developed an operational budget of roughly $25,000,000 to kickstart Telcoin during the first 36 months, but if they were to raise more funds, the funds would be allocated this way:
A large part of the extra funds will be allocated to additional marketing spending in order to maximize reach to at least one telecom in as many countries as possible — particularly important remittance corridors.
In a number of markets, the team expects to need a formidable effort to overcome regulatory challenges, and extra funds will help build a strong lobby team with the necessary resources and top notch respected legal support.
In the mid to long term, extra funds will help execute strategic M&A when the team will have a need for it, for example to acquire their way into a strategic market or engage in strategic joint ventures with large telecom groups.
In general, a larger ICO raise will help the team gain leverage in negotiations with telecom operators. They feel that a collective coordinated global effort to lobby telecoms and regulators will be required, and this will be expensive.
In their long term strategy, they don’t close the door to becoming a MVNO in some countries if it makes sense for their growth strategy their. After the ICO is over and once they have kick started activity, they will also consider private equity investment through a series A round if it makes sense regarding a financing plan.
Team
Source: ICO Alert