Use Cases

While the situation is changing for the better, many organizations in the blockchain space are still criticized for having developed only ideas and technology and not enough real world use cases. We’d like to demonstrate that ICON is used by millions today, with new products and services added at a reasonably fast pace.

Below we have detailed some of ICON’s most compelling use cases, along with some up-and-coming projects that we believe are worthy of note. 

The below list is by no means exhaustive — ICON has already funded almost 50 projects and continues to fund new development projects every month. It has allocated more than USD $800K towards those projects and has devoted an additional 200 million ICX fund toward financing projects that are implementing BTP to bridge to other blockchains.  And of course there are many solutions launched on ICON that are not funded by the organization.

With BTP almost ready to launch, it is expected that there will be an explosion of new development in the ICON ecosystem. What is also worthy of note is that BTP’s goal is to deliver on ICON’s promise of interoperability. We can expect not just more use cases, but also a very considerable increase in the reach of solutions delivered on ICON – many will be immediately accessible to users of other, partner blockchains, dramatically increasing ICON’s market presence.

Details about other ICON ecosystem projects and partners can be found on ICON.community and a wiki is being built for the ICON community that will also include this type of information. That said, like many organizations in the fast-paced blockchain world, securing an exhaustive list of available solutions is difficult.

DeFi

  • Omm Finance: Omm Finance is a DeFi money market where anyone can lend and borrow assets, earn interest and own a share of the protocol. Its Bridge wallet is an easy sign-in option and fiat on/off ramp. You can stake their native token, OMM, to receive daily rewards or provide liquidity on Balanced to earn more. Anyone can use Omm as a high-interest savings account by supplying ICX, sICX, USDS or IUSDC to a liquidity lending pool.
  • Balanced: Balanced Network is a DAO / decentralized bank, where ICX holders can take out a loan, swap assets and supply liquidity. It incentivizes people to deposit their ICX as collateral and borrow tokens pegged to real world assets. Balanced makes Defi accessible, high performance and cost effective:
    • Fast – it can handle 1,300 transactions every two seconds, with just two second transaction times
    • Cheap, with $0.005 transaction fees
    • Easy – getting started on Balanced does not require advanced technical skill to use
    • Better than Ethereum? –  Balanced is more than 3,200x cheaper, completes transactions 150x faster, and can process 45x more transactions per second.
  • Optimus: Optimus is a web-based yield optimizer defi app that interacts seamlessly with Balanced and Omm. A yield optimizer is a service that invests your funds on DeFi platforms for you and continually adjusts your position to keep your level of risk at an acceptable level.
  • Karma: Karma Finance is a soon-to-be-released DeFi protocol aimed at helping other DeFi protocols more safely bootstrap liquidity by putting liquidity ownership into the hands of the DeFi protocol instead of liquidity providers (LPs).
  • Convexus: Convexus is a soon-to-be-released automated market maker with concentrated liquidity aimed at offering Liquidity Providers (LPs) higher capital efficiency, while enabling low-slippage trade execution for traders.

Other Finance Apps

  • Contribution Proposal System (CPS): The CPS is ICON’s fund platform for community projects. Over USD $800K has been distributed via the CPS fund to date. Participating P-Reps judge proposals that are submitted on the site each month. The CPS receives many proposals every month, and is sometimes even oversubscribed. The Iconist is also funded through the CPS.
  • ICONFi: ICONFi is a custodial wallet that provides ICX staking as well as compound yields on cryptocurrency held in it. One of its primary functions is ease of use. Simply send assets to ICONFi to receive yields of up to 8.33% on BTC, 7.25% on ETH, 11.67% on USDT and USDC (APY). ICONFi’s fixed savings provide compound yields six times per day.
  • MetrICX: MetrICX is an app that connects to your ICX wallet to give you an overview of all the connected DApps and where your funds are. It also shows you how much you’ve staked, which P-Rep teams you’ve voted for, and whether you have any unclaimed rewards on ICON’s various DeFi sites.

Gaming

  • ZenSports: ZenSports is a peer-to-peer sports betting marketplace that runs on ICON smart contracts. Users can fund, bet and trade in ICX in a completely trustless environment. ZenSports’ aims to integrate more fully into the sports ecosystem, including the offline gaming industry. The WSJ featured ZenSports and its founder Mark Thomas in August 2021. Also in 2021 the Nevada Gaming Control Board approved ZenSports for a non-restricted gaming license in Nevada.
  • Project Nebula: Project Nebula is a sci-fi strategy game that features valuable collectables. Players can explore a vast universe, create new consumables, upgrade spaceships and even create new spaceship NFTs, which are tradable in the NFT Project Nebula Marketplace.
  • HAVAH: ICONLOOP signed a strategic partnership with the ICON Foundation and 2bytes Corp. to establish HAVAH, a new blockchain-based interchain NFT entertainment platform. The platform will connect NFTs issued on different blockchain networks and platforms, making them interoperable using ICON’s BTP technology. Additional game studios are expected to join the project as partners.
  • ICONBet: ICONBet is a fully decentralized gambling platform that awards house winnings to everyone who plays, removing the house edge. To achieve this ICONBet issues daily TAP tokens to everybody who gambles on their site, from winnings that would otherwise go to the house — the more you gamble each day, the more TAP you can claim.
  • Wonder Game: Wonder Game is a collaborative DeFi game launched  initially on the Harmony blockchain, but linked to ICON via ICON Bridge — the first use case of ICON’s “BTP Lite” solution. This made an early example of cross-chain NFT minting. Inspired by Alice and Wonderland, the P2E risk protocol game allows characters in the game to risk and gain Mushroom Tokens — $SHROOM — from each other.
  • ICX Staking Lottery: The ICX Staking Lottery is a lossless lottery that allows players to buy one ticket and play it again and again week after week, regardless of how many times they win or lose. The ticket is also fully refundable at any time.

NFTs

  • Craft Network: Craft is an NFT marketplace allowing you a smooth and low fee NFT trading and minting experience. Users can earn $CFT tokens for each of their trades on Craft and discover the best NFTs in the ICON ecosystem. $CFT is awarded based on users’ buying and selling activities. $CFT token ownership also allows votes for platform development and governance decisions.
  • NFT Bazaar: NFT Bazaar is an NFT marketplace by P-Rep team Spartan Node that has a large collection of digital art. Its low gas fees make it competitive against other NFT markets such as Open Sea. Artists must use Spartan Node’s own token — LambdaX ($LDX) — to mint NFTs, though customers purchase NFTs using ICX.
  • GangstaBet: GangstaBet is a collection of digital characters based on classic gangster films of the 1980s and 1990s. GangstaBet distributes GangstaBetToken ($GBET) to its holders on a daily basis. These tokens are used to change the name and skills of the characters.
  • Claws: Claws is an eye-catching collection of 3D dinosaur images that creates “mutation” interactions by deploying mutator contracts on target blockchains via BTP. For each Claw “bridged” for the first time from ICON to a newly integrated ecosystem, the user will be able to mint a new NFT exclusive to the new ecosystem.
  • Studio Mirai: Japan-based NFT studio Studio Mirai has put together Tamashi, a collection of 100 uniquely-created characters with unplugged TV screen heads, with each screen representing different themes, individuals and aspirations. Studio Mirai is backed by a passionate community of supporters, the Tamashi Tribe.
  • Alter: Alter is an upcoming clothing brand that ties its clothing line with collectible figurines that exist in both physical form and as ICON-based NFTs.

Projects developed on ICON by ICONLOOP, ICON’s technology partner

ICONLOOP is a private blockchain company that develops blockchain solutions for enterprises. It is also the ICON network’s chief technology partner and the developer of ICON’s general-purpose blockchain protocol. Many of the solutions ICONLOOP has developed utilize ICON’s core blockchain technology.

  • VisitMe: VisitMe is a smart visitor management solution that provides value at each stage of the ‘visiting’ process, from event invitations, to speedy check-in and one-touch event entry. VisitMe can be linked to various services such as KakaoTalk (Korea’s Whatsapp / Facebook), Slack, Google Calendar and SAML.
  • Broof: Broof issues ‘fraud-free’ blockchain-based certificates as well as permanent records of those certificates. Any institution can issue blockchain-based certificates via broof and the recipient can get and manage the certificates in an easy and safe manner. POSTECH issued diplomas stored on blockchain using broof in 2020.
  • Zzeung: Zzeung is an authentication service using ICONLOOP’s “MyID” decentralized ID service that provides real-name authentication, QR authentication and certificates. 
    • NH Bank uses the mobile app Zzeung to issue IDs, while Shinhan Bank launched a Zzeung-based ID service in 2020, making it the first financial company to commercialize DID.
    • VisitMe and Broof are integrated into Zzeung. So, too, was Jeju’s ubiquitous Jeju Safety Code tracing app during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    • Zzeung provides an ID service for Gangwon Province’s “Health Up” platform for managing chronic diseases.
    • Zzeung also provides a driver’s license authentication service for rental car services.
    • The MyID alliance — the network of partners pledged to use or promote MyID — has 86 members, including major commercial banks, securities firms, local governments, e-commerce companies and manufacturers.