ICO Overview, Karbon (KARB)

What is this? https://steemit.com/research/@juanplemus/research-summary

30 AUGUST, 2017 - KARBON (KARB) - SOCIAL E-COMMERCE - ICO, BONUS BLOCK 1 - PRICE 1 ETH ($380.00) = 3500 KARB + 50% BONUS

Basics: The Karbon Platform will connect people through social media networks while simultaneously providing financial opportunities through cryptocurrencies. It attempts to address 5 problems the team associates with today’s social media sites. 1) Having to use multiple platforms for one goal. 2) Social media companies care more about their advertisers than their user’s behaviour. 3) Users can’t manage a business through their social media account. 4) Social media platforms don’t incorporate cryptocurrency functionality. 5) User submitted content is not monetarily incentivized.

Proposition: Karbon is trying to build a combined social media network and e-commerce platform that promotes the entrepreneurial spirit in its users.

Functionality: All data happening on the Karbon platform is stored on the blockchain, and visually displayed to the end-user through their news feeds, or profile pages. It will feature a built in multi-cryptocurrency wallet that allows for transactions between cryptocurrencies. The team state that users will be able to purchase products directly, earn small amounts of cryptocurrencies thru micro tipping, open storefronts, use mobile e-commerce tools, bid on keywords, and access stat-tracking and seller performance reports. Karbon will also introduce a debit card funded with KARB, that will be transferred into its USD/EUR/CNY equivalent at the time of purchase.

Value: While several cryptocurrencies will be supported, transactions using the KARB token will have 0% fees. Brands, users, and shops will be allowed to bid on keywords and this rate will be added to the network pool to be distributed back to ICO Token holders as well as shareholders. A portion of the fees on transactions will be allocated to ICO Token holders. Initial Token Sale contributors will earn a return on their initial investment by holding tokens and receiving daily payouts to their appropriate ETH wallet address. 50% daily-pooled earnings will be equally (from the explanation following this statement it appears they meant to say proportionally) distributed.

Innovation: Karbon is trying to create a platform that combines social media posts, activity feeds and secure messaging, with e-commerce features such as, search and discovery tools, multi account functionality, shop features, direct advertising and ratings, on a blockchain that allows for user determined anonymity, decentralization, multi-cryptocurrency wallet, direct purchases and micro tipping.

Team: Small team, 2 developers, 1 administrator, 1 CMO (which I guess stands for chief marketing officer) and 2 advisors. The founder seems to have an active Github account, could not find info on other team members on my admittedly very shallow internet search.

Affinity: We’ve been turned off by spam posts and heavy advertisement on social media for more than 7 years and it looks like Karbon, rather than removing this feature, just disintermediates it. Combining social media and e-commerce is not for us.

First take: Is Karbon doing enough to differentiate itself from Steemit?

Opportunity: I didn't like the Karbon whitepaper because it uses a lot of flowery language and is quite vague in two aspects: the technology that will actually permit the platform to run the offered features and, other than stating that 50% of the daily-pooled earnings will be distributed to Token Sale contributors that hold on to their tokens, no information on how income will be allocated is detailed. The Karbon Platform is attempting to steer users away from two of the most competitive internet industries, social media and e-commerce, while also vying for attention amongst the still emergent, and already saturated, cryptocurrency landscape. I would need more compelling evidence that the team can accomplish their stated goals before investing in KARB tokens.

This is an opinion and I might have missed some very important information that can alter this overview of Karbon. I'll gladly engage in discourse that can provide different viewpoints on the value of Karbon. Please visit their site at https://karbon.io/

If you plan to invest on this ICO do not take this as financial advice. It is important you do your own research before committing any money in any investment.