Koreas Next Big ICO

You know all those cute Korean emoticons that are everywhere? You might be seeing a lot more of them on some cryptocurrencies here pretty soon.

Much of the cryptocurrency world has been watching the Telegram ICO develop over the past few months, with news recently coming out that it has reached over 1 billion dollars in funds raised. That would make it by far the largest ICO ever. But that may not be a title it holds for long. Kakao, the largest messaging service in Korea, with around 50 million users worldwide has recently announced that they will be conducting an ICO.

But wait, how can a messaging platform with only 50 million users globally conduct an ICO larger than one with 180 million. Those numbers don’t work out. Let me tell you why I think the Kakao ICO will dwarf the Telegram one. First, and the most obvious. Kakao won’t have any problems getting their coin listed. Why? Because they own a 20% stake in Upbit, by far the largest exchange in Korea by coins listed, and consistently number one in volume. On some days it is the number one exchange globally by volume. So creating demand and a market for Kakao coin shouldn’t be an issue.

But still only 50 million users. I mean it will be big, but it won’t pass Telegram right? Wrong. Kakao, although only having 50 million users, is used everywhere in Korea. 95% of phones here have it installed. In Korea, want an Uber? Nope, Kakao Taxi. Google Maps? Nope, Kakao Maps. Spotify? Nope, Kakao Music. Venmo? Nope, Kakao Pay. Coupons? Nope, Kakao Gifts. Pinterest? Nope, Kakao Style. Uber Eats? Nope, Kakao has that too. Oh and a majority of the game apps developed here are released through Kakao. You can even buy clothes in app. You can set up reservations for haircuts, You can blog on Kakao. You can reserve movie tickets. You can ever order groceries to your door through this. Do I need to continue?

This could effectively be what many hoped Bitcoin would. A means of payment accepted everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if companies outside Kakao are forced to begin accepting it after awhile. This is actually scary. Now this is of course all speculation, but it definitely has the potential to be the biggest ICO ever.

At the moment, there isn’t too many details on how the ICO will be conducted except for the fact that they have established a company with the tentative name “Kakao Blockchain.” Also, they have been doing a lot of fundraising in Singapore, recently raising over 1 billion USD for investment. The ONE thing that I can see really holding this back is of course the Korean government. Currently ICOs are illegal here, and the government has been pretty firm on that. Companies like ICON and BOS coin have done their ICOs overseas, so it is expected that Kakao, if this really happens, will do the same.

What do you think about all these companies doing ICOs? Do you think they will succeed? Are they harmful to the overall cryptocurrency space, or do they help it? And how should/will governments react to companies like Kakao, Amazon or Paypal having their own coins?

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