Simple Token — Making Blockchain Available to Mainstream Businesses | Backed by Tencent
(First published November 9, 2017 on https://easyicoreviews.com/simpletoken/)
Simple Token is a software company that makes it extremely easy for consumer apps to benefit from blockchain technologies.
Similar to how numerous businesses use Shopify as a platform for their e-commerce or Stripe as their payment solution, Simple Token fills that same role when it comes to integrating blockchain into consumer businesses.
Businesses will be able to tokenize their platforms without having to worry about the development of a blockchain and the legal difficulties that come with it.
For the user, this means that you could earn tokens simply by using your favorite apps and then spend those very same tokens on a Starbucks coffee — or just sell them on an exchange and keep the earnings.
Simple Token enables exactly that, but it all depends on whether businesses will want to tokenize their services or not.
Still Far From Mainstream Adoption
Screenshot from the Simple Token whitepaper
The diagram above shows the numbers of different types of users in millions. There are currently around 16 million cryptocurrency wallets in the world, showing that blockchain technologies are still in the very early days — even though Bitcoin is almost 9 years old now.
I personally tend to invest in those companies that aim toward mainstream adoption since this is where I see the biggest value increase on my investment, and Simple Token has a unique approach to this obstacle — they are going through the back-door.
Instead of catering directly to the consumer like Divi or Electroneum, Simple Token instead seeks to help those businesses that already have a huge userbase by providing them with an easy-to-use module which their developers can easily integrate in the system.
This does two things:
- It helps break down the barriers to entry for established developers, meaning that now they don’t need to be blockchain experts in order to utilize the technology in their businesses.
- It indirectly introduces an enormous amount of users to cryptocurrency via a face they are already familiar with — their favorite app.
Launching an ICO can also cost companies in the range of $500,000, but with Simple Token most of these costs are nullified which lowers the barriers to entry even more — making blockchain techonology truly accessible and adoptable for mainstream businesses.
The whitepaper does a great job of showing some of the use cases that Simple Token would enable:
How it works
So, how exactly does this work on the back-end?
Simple Token (OST) is an ERC20 token meaning that it runs on the Ethereum blockchain. “Member Companies,” as they are called, can stake Simple Tokens to create their own tokens on the OST blockchain.
I could, for instance, create an AndreasHauser Token with custom properties by staking OST on the Simple Token platform.
I could choose the max supply of AHT Tokens and for which actions my readers would be rewarded, like sharing posts on social media or commenting with useful tips or suggestions, and in turn I could provide exclusive content unlockable with AHT as a way to spend them. Alternatively, those tokens could be redeemed by the user (for Simple Tokens) to spend on other websites or apps — completely separate from easyicoreviews.com.
I think this is an amazing way of helping small-scale businesses as well as rewarding consumers for their time.
This system could eventually generate an extra income for people simply by rewarding them for the activities they do anyway!
In fact, Simple Token already has a confirmed Member Company called Pepo with 200,000 users. Pepo is a platform for democratising the local and travel expertise market, and they aim to engage at least 5 million in the near future by rewarding them with Pepo Coins.
Simple Token recently released this demo video showing the creating of Pepo Coins with the Simple Token protocol.
The Simple Token Team
The Simple Token team is big. They employ some 30+ people in several offices from what I can gather, and almost every single one of their main team members is worthy of their own article.
Simple Token has managed to gather so many of the top guys in the industry that this project is almost bound to be a great success after it officially launches.
If I were inventing the next big mass-adoption technology, these are the guys I would trust to get it done.
Screenshot from the Simple Token whitepaper
- Jason Goldberg, CEO & Co-founder
Jason has 18 years’ experience with internet entrepreneurship and scaling of products to millions of users. He is also the founder and CEO of Pepo, the app that is already integrating the Simple Token platform. Prior to that Jason founded Hem.com, a successful product design studio based in Stockholm.
Jason has such a rich history of leadership and innovation that I can only recommend looking through his LinkedIn profile. - Nishith Shah, CTO & Co-founder
Nishith has worked with Jason on several projects, including Hem.com which he also founded.
He also founded and was CTO of fab.com, and founded True Sparrow Systems and SocialMedian as well. Together with Jason he has “been building large-scale internet technologies for more than 10 years., reaching tens of millions of consumers.“ - Ben Bollen, Chief Technology Strategist
Benjamin has been occupied with decentralized computing systems for the past 8 years. He previously built HyperLedger Burrow at Monax, a project started by the Linux Foundation in 2015 that supports the collaborative development of blockchain-based distributed ledgers.
He also researched computationally efficient representations of strongly correlated quantum systems (that was hard to say) at Ghent university in 2009–14. - Paul J du Plessis, Director of Market Development
Paul has an impressive resume of top positions in reputable companies. He was previously Marketing Manager and Solution Design Executive in SilverBridge, Senior Product Manager and Head of Partnerships at Monax Industries (working together with Ben Bollen), and now in a top position at Simple Token as well.
He has 10 years’ experience in “building technology for enterprises and growing startups in fintech, insuretech and blockchain technology.”
I can really recommend checking out the 30+ team members yourself if you want to get the full picture of how strong the team is.
Below you can see some of the early investors in the project as well, which really helps to emphasize the validity of the team as a whole.
Simple Token Stats & ICO Info
Only 800,000,000 ST will ever be created and about 30% is allocated for Token Sale #1.
This image shows how 100% of the total OST will be distributed:
The “Accelerator Program” is going to use 27.2% of the tokens to help fund promising projects on the OST protocol as well as supporting the development of the ecosystem.
The 5.6% for “Early Backers” has already taken place (image above) in a private sale that started September 5.
10% for the founders and advisors respectively is very reasonable. With some ICOs we see upwards of 50% being reserved for the team, and in the case of Simple Token these tokens will gradually be released over a long-term vesting period.
Pre-registration ends on November 11 and in order to get a 10% bonus on your purchase, you must first participate in the “Proof of Support” event — all you have to do is share a post about SimpleToken and upload the picture in your Simple Token profile on www.sale.simpletoken.org/login.
You must also go through the KYC (Know Your Customer) process and upload your ID in order to participate in the sale. This is done to prevent money laundering.
Conclusion
As previously mentioned, mainstream adoption is where I personally see the biggest potential for investors. Any company that offers a utility token such as OST and targets the everyday people is a solid bet, I’d say.
As always, I cannot give you investment advice, but Simple Token really has the vision, the product, the tech, and the team to deliver something truly unique.
Website: www.simpletoken.org
Whitepaper here
Facebook page here
I am not your financial advisor.
Only invest what you can afford to lose!
