nCent is building a protocol that allows users to be rewarded for the value of their networks. The protocol is being developed as a base layer for applications facilitating incentive markets.
- $10 million seed capital raised.
-Respected investors Naval Ravikant, Sequoia Capital and Winkelvoss Capital have invested in the project.
-Only a Litepaper with little technical detail has been released to date.
-No roadmap or details of a public token sale have been made available to date.
-This is an interesting project and we are waiting for more details on the token economy and token sale.
Product
nCent is a decentralized protocol that incentivizes users to form specialized networks to perform valuable work as a group. The protocol incentivizes networks by rewarding not only those that do the work, but the network of users that recruit those that do the work.
The project founders believe that markets organize people better than firms, and by creating an ecosystem for incentive markets and applications they can create more efficient economies.
nCent is also launching initiatives to drive adoption of the protocol. yCent is a program being started to encourage companies to build projects on the nCent protocol.
nGage is a program aiming to recruit and connect students and blockchain clubs at universities.
Technical Aspects
nCent is being built as a generalized base layer protocol upon which specific applications can be built. The blockchain is designed to allow for fast processing, scalability, protocol incentives, smart contracts and application incentives.
The Litepaper includes very little about the technology. However, a blog post written by the CEO, KK Jain, describes the blockchain being built as an open, distributed, cryptographically secured ledger providing a verifiable record of the execution of an incentive program.
Comparisons with similar networks are made with an emphasis on the aspects of nCent’s planned network that overcome the shortcomings of these blockchains.
Consensus will be achieved by way of Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP), by using validator nodes to verify the blockchain.
The native token is NCNT. Applications operating on the network will be required to hold NCNT tokens before issuing their own tokens. NCNT tokens are also earned by anyone recruiting new users to join the network and by validators nodes that maintain the validity of the network.
While the protocol is being built primarily for other entities to build applications on top of, nCent is building two applications to assist in launching the network and illustrate use cases. These two applications are designed to aid customer search for sports teams and developer recruitment for start-ups.
Technical Conclusion
Little detail on the technology has been provided at this point, and there is no MVP. However, on the face of it, the team appear to have identified several ways to improve on other well-known smart contract platforms.
Potential use case for this ICO
Incentive markets can be created around any problem or task that can be incentivized. The immediate use cases are:
- Finding and recruiting staff.
- Locating customers for a business.
- No other use cases are illustrated, though the team believes companies and individuals will find new ways to apply the protocol in time.
Market
There are no direct competitors building and incentive market protocol. However, to an extent, similar markets could be built on Ethereum, EOS, NEO and other smart contract platforms.
nCent is the only blockchain protocol being developed to allow incentive markets to operate on it specifically.
People
The Team
The core team consists of just three people. The CEO, KK Jain, ran the Computational Finance program at Stanford University and ran quantitative trading strategies at Citigroup, Perry Capital and DE Shaw.
Dr. Rajeev Surati is the core and backend developer and is a serial tech entrepreneur. Michael Barile who runs partnerships and App development has worked at Google and Uber and co-founded a virtual game running on the Ethereum network.
Advisors
While the core team is very small, nCent also has a large group of contributing advisors.
In particular, venture investors Naval Ravikant and Steve Jurvetson are advising on strategy.
Other advisors, with diverse and relevant experience, are advising on blockchain technology, systems, social networking, data science, incentive design, financial markets and launch strategy.
Investors
Naval Ravikant and Steve Jurvetson are also seed investors in the project. Other prominent seed investors are Sequoia Capital, Winklevoss Capital, Floodgate and AME Cloud Ventures.
Partnerships
No partnerships are mentioned, but the nGage and yCent programs are being run to build partnerships aggressively.
Roadmap
No roadmap has been released yet. The project has been in the works since at least December 2017, but only formally launched in April 2018.
nCent’s GitHub repository is active with regular commits occurring over the three weeks prior to this review being written. However, no core code had been uploaded.
Tokenomics
No details of the token economy or crowd sale have been announced.
Is this utility or security token?
Utility token
Do they need a token?
Yes, incentives are central to the nCent protocol and are paid in the native NCNT token.
Hype
The hype rate is medium to high. With several high-profile investors already on board, the project has attracted a large following in a matter of weeks. The Telegram channel has over 20,000 members despite the fact that the token sale details have yet to be announced. We expect the hype rate to increase going forward.
Conclusion
We don’t have enough details to make a decision yet. But, the project does look very interesting and we will be watching it carefully and waiting for more details.
The hype rate implies that the token sale may be oversubscribed (depending on the amount being raised), and there is likely to be strong demand when tokens begin trading on exchanges.
Because this project is very unique, it will be one to watch over the long term too.
Links
https://ncent.io/Applications/landingPage/LitePaper.pdf
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