Gladius Project (USA)
Gladius is a hi-tech project that uses Blockchain to protect web resources from DDoS attacks, which resulted in $150 billion losses in 2016 only. This solution is a network designed for the analysis and automatic filtration of suspicious activities directed at web resources. Any computer with high-speed Internet connection can serve as a Gladius network node and use its free computing power to process requests.
The system is based on Ethereum and the Content Distribution Network (CDN), inside which the system’s particular nodes can exchange data without significant delays. Gladius’ layout makes it possible to shift the traditional approach to DDoS attack prevention to the decentralized network and, thus, to considerably reduce the cost of standard SaaP services, including the giants Cloudfare and Akamai (NASDAQ:AKAM) (the total capitalization is some $15 billion).
Users obtain Gladius’ own tokens (GLA), which serve as the system’s internal currency, for every processed request. The Gladius system includes an internal trading venue to exchange GLA tokens and computing powers under natural competitive conditions. Therefore, websites can spend their tokens to use protection services and to speed up access to content by means of the geographically distributed CDN systems. As for computing power owners, they can monetize their assets.
The company is now carrying out a limited pre-sale of GLA tokens. The pre-sale will last until the opening of the main round, to be launched on November 1, 2017. The HardCap of the project is $12.5 millions; its SoftCap is $2 million.
There are some sound arguments in favor of Gladius, including its being a great idea, numerous publications and a new approach to solving the existing problem. However, the project has one point of contention. Our team always pays close attention to the product’s team. Gladius’s team consists of very young founders who have recently graduated from university. On one side, this can turn out to be one of the project’s strengths (just think how young the founders of Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) or Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) are!). On the other side, it remains unclear whether the team will be able to cope with big challenges on their way to the implementation of such sophisticated technologies.
Our team decided to conduct another investigation before making up its mind about investing in this project.
2. Mercury Protocol Project (USA)
Merculry Protocol is a set of smart contracts designed to create a more secure private social network that will develop and function using Blockchain instead of isolating the network on centralized servers. The creation of a symbolic social ecosystem will enable apps to use tokens to stimulate significant interactions, and users will be able to use them to get access to premium services. Mercury Protocol-based apps can charge GMT tokens for premium services (inter-platform message exchange and content, message encryption, support of large files, increased service life of messages, content mailing to the target audience using demographic benchmark data and more). Apps can also award GMT tokens to active users for their participation.
Dust Messenger will be the first app to use the Mercury protocol. According to White Paper, over 20,000 users use it and send 200,000 messages daily. Compared to 5,000,000 messages sent daily in July 2015, the apps seems to be in decline. According to App Annie, Dust ranked 500th in American social networks for iOS App Store.
Mercury Protocol has been developed by Radical App International, and its team comprises 15 people. Mark Cuban, a billionaire, is the project’s investor and counselor, according to some information.
In summary, it appears that the instant messaging app industry is thriving. Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. Snap (NYSE:SNAP). also has a market capitalization of $19 billion as of October 16, 2017. Should Mercury Protocol be a success, it has every chance to grow. However, the market is highly competitive and packed, so most users are unlikely to use another instant messaging app if none of their friends uses it. Besides, its uses are relatively limited compared to Status, its nearest rival. Status’ functionality includes a dApps launch, sending of payments and storage of cryptocurrency which cannot be supported by Mercury protocol.
The team overall decision is not to in the project at this stage.
3. Nuggets Project (UK)
This project deserves close attention due to its promotion by Argon Group, the world leader in counselling services on token-based digital assets markets. Their past projects include Civic, Storj, Salt and Blockchain Capital, all of which gathered maximum crowd sales within hours.
Nuggets is a consumer blockchain platform giving users a single biometric tool for login, payment and identity verification, without sharing or storing private data. In this way, even Nuggets will have no access to your information. Nugget gives consumers a possibility to manage your personal information and protect companies from risks and expenses related to the control and protection of huge databases containing their clients’ records. The project intends to deal with one of the major present-day business problems, cyber security.
Imagine, you fill in all your personal information just once when signing up for the mobile app - your passport or driving license, payment details and make a selfie. That’s it - now you are an approved user and your encrypted data is stored in Blockchain. From now on, you’ll just have to apply your finger to the sensor on your cell phone, even when working on your PC, and you’ll be able to enter any website requiring identification, to purchase goods in a store or to confirm your identity when communicating with the support service. It’s easy and quick.
A total of 10 billion ERC20 NUG tokens will be issued on Ethereum blockchain. The pre-sale and the ICO start on October 24, 2017 and on November 14, 2017 respectively. The project’s Hard cap is $50 million. The platform itself is to be launched in the first quarter of 2018.
The cost of NUG tokens will grow as retailers add authorization via Nuggets and as the number of users increases in the ecosystem. Besides, users will be able to pay for services and goods with NUG tokens.
The project’s team of developers is worth mentioning too. It comprises specialists who have worked with the world’s leading brands. They have considerable professional experience of product development and commercialization, marketing, advertising, telecommunications and financial services.
Overall, the project is this highly promising and worth participating.