China's Golden Goose: Dragon ICO

In the latest issue of my newsletter, I had mentioned an upcoming last-minute trip to Hong Kong that would promise BIG news for the cryptocurrency space. Well, that statement turned out to be half right. Cambridge Analytica invited me to this historic event but the company they outsourced the travel logistics to made the unfortunate mistake of booking my flight from Chicago to Hong Kong in economy.

Blame it on miscommunication, and a devastating earthquake in Mexico Citythat made my main point of contact for the trip unreachable (she’s okay btw). I’m no drama king, but I’ve actually done the nonstop flight from Chicago to Hong Kong in business class before, on a spacious sleeper seat no less, and even that was tiring. I knew there would be no way I’d be able to handle two 16-hour flights in economy (return flight was due in less than three days from the arrival flight) in such a short time. One needs to also consider the drastic time zone differences between North America and Asia. To add insult to injury, there would be no WiFi as well, which for me is simply not an option given my constant communicating with co-investors and project teams from around the world. So, I stayed home.Well…onto the part that’s held true….this is BIG news!

Dragon is the largest ICO to date, and is tokenizing the gambling industry and its supporting assets, in partnership with all of the casino junkets in Macau (including Sands, Wynn, MGM, Venetian, Grand Lisboa, etc).This will be the biggest ICO globally at a $500M cap with 85% already committed. Dragon has a Chinese government license for exchange into fiat (the only such cryptocurrency project in China) and will lead the charge in Macau becoming the epicenter of cryptocurrency and blockchain projects for all of China due to the mainland’s tightening regulations.

The real draw for attending this historic event was the networking. Following the press release in Hong Kong in the morning (local time), there would be a networking lunch and the facilitation of one-on-one meetings between attendees. Afterwards, attendees would head to Macau for some partying in the evening. Some of the people in town for the Dragon launch included Roger Ver, the Tezos founder(s), investment bankers and VCs, and many other insiders.Here are some pics sent to me by a friend who attended:

                                   Helicopter ferrying attendees between Hong Kong and Macau

Dragon Pearl Hotel and Casino — the world’s first floating hotel that can traverse international waters (if it needs to). Sounds like a cruise liner :)

Given the Chinese government’s direct involvement in this project, people expect this news to moderate some of the FUD the media has been reporting about China.My thoughts now are on the Dragon ICO itself. Casinos in Macau are BIG business and if Dragon tokens are to have guaranteed utility in those casinos — as well as liquidity for fiat conversion — a much higher valuation is all but assured (disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor, so do not take that as financial advice).

I’ll be sharing any insight I have on this ICO with my Telegram community. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for updates on this opportunity and other crypto-related projects.