carVertical

What is it:

A blockchain solution for storage and verification of authenticity of automobile history. "All data that’s in the blockchain registry cannot be changed, faked, rewritten or manipulated. It provides full transparency and builds trust. And most importantly, all car’s history data becomes de-centralized and publicly accessible. This is key element why we chose to execute project as blockchain registry."[1]

Why it has potential:

Unlike many recent ICOs, cv(carVertical) has a very clear problem it is trying to address, falsification of car information. As many of us know, when purchasing a used a car, one of the largest influences on the price is the total mileage of the car. Unfortunately, even though odometer fraud is considered a felony by the United States Department of Justice, (see Federal Odometer Tampering Statues[2]), its still a very common issue in the used car business. In fact, as mentioned on the front page of cv website, "odometer fraud still cheats US customers by 1 billions dollars annually by exaggerating the value of used car." Blockchain technology is perfectly suited in addressing this issue by guarantying the authenticity of the blockchain history, and the inability to manipulate or fake the blockchain. The main takeaway here is that blockchain is very well suited for the problem cv is trying to solve. Many ICOs are trying to use blockchain for problems which could be better solved using other methods, this is where cv is different, blockchain is one of the best tools to the solve the problem cv is addressing.

So far:

The ICO began by offering 240000 cV tokens for 1 Eth on December 14th, 2017. This means that the price per cV was around ~$0.00029, assuming $700 for 1 Eth in Dec. 14th. The ICO was planned to go until April 2018, however, it was sold out much earlier than that. Infact, cV is available for purchance on Etherdelta[3] for ~0.0022[4], as of Jan 23rd. The interest of investors was so great that the company was able to sprint 3 months ahead of schedule while providing a nearly 10x increase in initial investment for all who bought into the ICO. Nowadays its rare to see a coin priced higher in the first few days on the exchange than its ICO price.

Team:

The core team of 12 members is subdivided into predominantly software developers, followed by marketing and business developers. All appear to be experience in their respective field. A group of 12 influential/connected advisors in the automotive industry is representing cv. Indeed the team looks larger than most crypto related ICOs. Finally, an important points is that the team appears to have a long-term dedication to the project which is reflected in the fact that all of the Team and Founder tokens (14% and 13% respectively) are frozen for 4 years.

Whats next:

At this point the team needs to deliver the product from its end. As of now (2018, Jan 23rd) the price is entirely speculative, there is no product yet. The timeline suggests an alpha version of the wallet by the end of Jan 2018, and an alpha of the API by March of 2018. In June the aim is to begin implementation of its product into the automotive industries located in the Baltic states[6], the biggest one being Autoplius. There is a lot of potential for this company, we can compare it to vehicle history report companies like Carfax, which was purchased by IHS, inc in 2014[7] for 1.4 billion dollars. Comparing this to cv, which has an estimated market cap of ~70mil( calculated from the number of coin sold during ICO, 43% of total supply) implies a lot of room for growth.

Things to watchout for:

As far as ICOs go, this one collected a lot of money. Granted, it has a great idea and a very solid team but the ICO kicked off at quite substantial 70mil, with the price based on speculation. A cautious investor might wait a few weeks after its popularization on coinmarketcap[4] to see how devoted the public really is to this project. There is a chance that the price may dip given that the real action is still a few months away (June, 2018).
Recall lockchain (LOC), a blockchain solution to the homesharing economy, based in Bulgaria. They have a great/innovative idea, active team, and are making real strides in achieving their goal. But when a competitor with a very similar idea but a team from Google, Facebook, Uber and Civic, pops up with an ICO, the price of LOC begins to drop. "Can lockchain really compete with such experience? Is business in Bulgaria run as freely as it is in USA?" these are the questions that sway investors into investing into the competition. cv is based in Lithuania, and as a result may suffer the same experience is an western competitor appears on the market. Something to keep a vigilant eye on.

[1] https://www.carvertical.com/#solution
[2] https://www.justice.gov/civil/case/federal-odometer-tampering-statutes
[3] https://etherdelta.com/#PPT-ETH
[4] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/carvertical/
[5] https://www.carvertical.com/blog/carvertical-is-backed-by-european-union/
[6] https://www.carvertical.com/blog/partners/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.L.Polk%26_Company
[8] https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/lockchain/