ICONVIET is really stoked about ICON’s decentralization.

“I think it’s crucial to realize how important decentralization is — not only for the network, but also for the ICONists and public representatives alike,” says Corey Costa, former ICONSENSUS Ambassador and current Public Relations Manager for ICONVIET. “This is such a focal component of ICON’s history, and it’s a privilege to be part of it and part of ICONVIET.”

ICONVIET has a passion for ICON and are determined to expand the network through their developmental expertise and ability to educate and promote. Boasting over 20 years of IT experience, the Vietnam-based P-Rep team of five will build high-quality products that help propagate the network. Costa explains, “We want to connect DApps and create user-friendly services that utilize the ICX coin without users even knowing they are using the coin, having a seamless and positive user experience, and therefore perpetuating the expansion and vision of the ICON ecosystem.”

Building a digital democracy

ICONVIET was created in July 2019 by members of the ICON community who believe in the ideals, visions, principles and beliefs set forth in the ICON ecosystem. They saw the potential in ICON, in a decentralized ecosystem that connects different networks. Some members of the team took part in the ICO.

Costa, who is based in New York, got involved with ICON in June of 2018 because he realized what the project was trying to create. Unlike so many other blockchain projects, ICON was actually trying to do something. “Unfortunately, most of the blockchain sphere is filled with projects that don’t appear to be perpetuating any positive notions or developments within the ecosystem,” says Costa. “And ICON sets a new precedent of collaboration, cooperation and expansion by allowing these different blockchains within the ecosystem to speak with one another.”

Costa — the host of the podcast “The Democratic Chronicles” — is particularly drawn to ICON’s incorporation of digital democracy and democratic republicanism, a subject upon which he expounds in a widely read post on ICON’s Medium blog. In fact, this is why ICONVIET is so excited about decentralization, something Costa calls “the herald of the creation of a digital nation.”

Warning that centralization breeds despotism, Costa explains:

“One main focus that really enthralled me personally was that this digital democracy was being formed, that there was an election and there were participants that were part of the community. This was literally the formation of a country on the Internet. And that’s an amazing thing to understand, realize and be a part of because decentralization is the herald of democracy within the cryptocurrency sphere. And it’s important that we emulate that image within ICON so that other blockchain projects realize the importance of decentralization, because decentralization has to be the calling card of the entirety of the blockchain sphere. And ICON has been the harbinger of decentralization and digitized equity.”

Building and expanding

Being a technically oriented team, ICONVIET is focusing on development, namely by building services that seamlessly integrate ICX.

They’ve got a number of initiatives in the works, including various DID-based DApp use cases and the ICONLOOK web and mobile toolkit, a collection of tools for P-Reps and ICONists.

One especially interesting initiative the team has launched is ContributionDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization designed to oversee and govern collaborative contributions by multiple parties in a public blockchain ecosystem. Though the solution is chain agnostic, the team chose ICON’s public chain to implement it thanks to its unique emphasis on Proof of Contribution.

Costa stresses community initiative. Without a community, he says, a project will collapse, no matter how good it may be. He says, “Without ICONists, there is no ICON.”

Ready and willing to speak up

Why vote for ICONVIET?

Costa points out that the team was one of the first to get its node up and running successfully. He also notes that the team’s members have been involved in the ICON community since 2017. He says, “We’re veterans of the community and understand the intricacies of ICON and what it set out to do and how we as developers can expand on the ecosystem as a byproduct of decentralization.”

ICONVIET is also not afraid to speak up when they see something they believe is wrong. Costa says, “When we see inequitable things occurring within the ICON ecosystem, we will speak up without fear.” The team demonstrated this during the recent controversy surrounding alleged “vote buying” by certain P-Rep teams, when they were among the practice’s most vocal critics. Costa says, “ICONVIET has set a precedent in being involved in the fight against vote buying and we will continue to do as such.”

Moreover, ICONVIET has the connections to make collaboration work. Costa’s experience as ICONSENSUS Ambassador hasn’t hurt in this regard. “We believe the reason ICONists should vote for us is because the ambition of our team is to expand the ICON ecosystem through developmental expertise and collaborative connections with other public representatives,” he says. “We want to foster collaboration within the ICON ecosystem, and through our connections with other prominent P-Rep teams, we will fulfill that ambition and perpetuate the ICON ecosystem as a whole.”

He also encourages ICONists to spread out their vote to give lesser-known teams a chance. “We believe in equity, transparency and trust,” he says. “We think it’s crucial that ICONists spread their votes out because it negates the productivity penalty and allows up-and-coming P-Reps that might not have as much exposure as more prominent P-Reps to shine. A person can’t cure cancer if they don’t have the funding or exposure to do so.”