NOTE: We published the first version of our APEX ICO Review on December 12, 2017. Since then, the APEX ICO community has taken off in number and received a good deal more support. We have updated our Community Support rating and final score to reflect these developments.
APEX ICO Overview
The APEX ICO offers a solution to the issue of a rapidly changing consumer data ecosystem. The way data is collected, managed and handled is changing; consumer consent, awareness, privacy and a tightening regulatory landscape that includes new laws introduced in both China and the EU, all point toward a coming trend that will put control back into the hands of users. The evolution in the ecosystem of consumer data requires new models for both users and brands to reap the most benefits. How can this be accomplished?
Enter the APEX ICO Value Proposition
APEX offers a way to change the fundamental flow and structure of consumer driven data. By building a decentralized platform for brand-to-consumer (B2C) interactions, APEX has set out to maximize the value of consumer data while simultaneously building trust between parties.
In their own words:
Imagine an ideal ecosystem in which 1) value is left on the table for the enterprise and the consumer, with little to no middlemen involvement 2) instead of a “solicitation” method of engagement, we match consumers and brands based on intent and 3) a fully transparent system with trust and consent.
Consumers will use the CPX Wallet app to access offers by participating brands, which will deliver CPX in return for user-generated data. Central to this idea is the principle that consumers are the ultimate owner of their data and identity.
The antiquated approach of B2C solicitation instead becomes a matchmaking process for the user and brands- consumers choose the brands they release data to, and in return, earn CPX as a reward for their disclosure. With the APEX platform, value flow passes back-and-forth between businesses and consumers, with no middlemen in the process. Initially, the product will be a hybrid on-chain/off-chain platform. Only functions that involve value exchange and consent will be executed on-chain, with the existing data analytics platform, called NEXUS, remaining off-chain until the later stages of the product’s development.
The APEX ICO Team
Behind APEX is parent company Chinapex, a customer data tech and AI company based in Shanghai. Chinapex have engineered several cutting-edge marketing analytics applications that are used by 250+ large enterprises. At the helm of Chinapex and APEX is Jimmy Hu, founder and CEO of both companies. Hu is a 2017 selectee of Forbes China 30 Under 30, has built internal marketing analytics for the likes of Microsoft and advised Gerson Lehrman Group on big data and AI projects.
Tiger Yang, Co-founder and President of Chinapex, has carried over his role directly to APEX as well. His previous experience, also with Microsoft, includes managing several internal data analytics projects.
CTO, Richard Wang, has prior experience in the same role with 360 Caifu, an online finance platform. He is also a former Director of Engineering at Alibaba with three years of experience behind him.
Another Alibaba transplant is VP of Product, Robert Xu. Xu served as Product Director of the e-commerce giant’s big data analytics division for nearly three years.
APEX ICO- Strengths and Opportunities
The APEX ICO team is well positioned to capitalize on the growing shift toward consumer control and monetization of data, predicted to be one of the top seven technological trends of 2018. With over 250+ current enterprise users of their data analytics software, the team has the luxury of knowing what enterprises are looking for in a platform. According to their website, 32% of their users have already signed-up for a trial-run of APEX at its launch.
Partnerships with Onchain and Neo provide the team an excellent resource for blockchain development expertise. As an NEP-5 token, CPX will be a pioneering project of the NEO Smart Economy. For a team that is making their first foray into the world of blockchain, these partnerships are essential.
When it comes to off-chain data analytics, parent company Chinapex is partnered with a number of all-star multinational tech companies, including Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AliCloud and Baidu. Their partnership with AliCloud gives them access to 500 million users’ ecommerce data that will be utilized for product development. As for AWS, they’ve provided APEX access to retail brand customers across a range of industries and agreed to deploy part of the system on their platform, though at this stage the details are still ambiguous. Through these partnerships, each company has the opportunity to integrate APEX into their own platforms.
As for other significant progress markers, CEO Jimmy Hu has announced that a testnet is up and running, linking APEX and NEXUS. With the beta release of the CPX Wallet planned for Q1 2018, the team is right on target.
APEX ICO- Weaknesses and Threats
How APEX intends to incentivize user adoption is also unclear at this stage. The project’s ultimate goal of accessing the data of 1 billion people sounds great, but we’d like to see more details on how they will arrive at that number. Without a significant consumer base to sell their data, the platform won’t be much use for enterprise users.
The Verdict on the APEX ICO
Overall, APEX has enormous potential. The top-notch team, partnerships on both blockchain and big data fronts make for a promising project. Add into the mix the fully functioning data analytics platform already used by hundreds of companies, and we’d say this project is certainly one to keep an eye on. Since publishing the first version of this review, the APEX ICO community has grown tremendously and demonstrated the level of support we feel is essential to the launch of a successful ICO. We’ll make a medium size bet on this one.
Learn more about the APEX ICO from our Telegram Community by clicking here.
Todays Date: 12/12/17
Project Name: APEX ICO
Token Symbol: CPX
Website: http://apex.chinapex.com/
Crowdsale Hard Cap: US$25 million
Total Supply: TBA
Token Distribution: 50% to pre/crowd sale, 15% to team/advisors, 10% held for reserve, 25% for platform and ecosystem growth
Price per Token: 1 NEO = 1000 CPX
Maximum Market Cap (at crowdsale price): US$50 million
Bonus Structure: Private presale had 50% bonus, public presale will have 20% bonus
Presale Terms: Presale closed
Whitelist: ICO Whitelist TBA
Important Dates:Whitelist registration and ICO late January/ early February
Expected Token Release: Distribution ends February 26, 2018 with trading to begin in early March
ICO Review Disclaimer
The team at Crypto Briefing analyzes an initial coin offering (ICO) against ten criteria, as shown above. These criteria are not, however, weighted evenly – our proprietary rating system attributes different degrees of importance to each of the criteria, based on our experience of how directly they can lead to the success of the ICO in question, and its investors.
Crypto Briefing provides general information about cryptocurrency news, ICOs, and blockchain technology. The information on this website (including any websites or files that may be linked or otherwise accessed through this website) is provided solely as general information to the public. We do not give personalized investment advice or other financial advice.
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Cryptocurrencies and blockchain are emerging technologies that carry inherent risks of high volatility, and ICOs can be highly speculative and offer few – if any – guarantees. You should never make an investment decision on an ICO or other investment based solely on the information on this website, and you should never interpret or otherwise rely on any of the information on this website as investment advice. We strongly recommend that you consult a licensed investment advisor or other qualified financial professional of your choosing if you are seeking investment advice on an ICO or other investment.
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Founding Team
This category accounts for the leaders, developers, and advisors.
Poor quality, weak, or inexperienced leadership can doom a project from the outset. Advisors who serve only to pad their own resumes and who have ill-defined roles can be concerning. But great leadership, with relevant industry experience and contacts, can make the difference between a successful and profitable ICO, and a flub.
If you don’t have a team willing and able to build the thing, it won’t matter who is at the helm. Good talent is hard to find. Developer profiles should be scrutinized to ensure that they have a proven history of working in a field where they should be able to succeed.
Product
What is the technology behind this ICO, what product are they creating, and is it new, innovative, different – and needed?
The IOTA project is a spectacular example of engineers run amok. The technology described or in use must be maintainable, achievable, and realistic, otherwise the risk of it never coming into existence is incredibly high.
Token Utility
Tokens which have no actual use case are probably the worst off, although speculation can still make them have some form of value.
The best tokens we review are the ones that have a forced use case – you must have this token to play in some game that you will probably desire to play in. The very best utility tokens are the ones which put the token holder in the position of supplying tokens to businesses who would be able to effectively make use of the platforms in question.
Market
There doesn’t have to be a market in order for an ICO to score well in this category – but if it intends to create one, the argument has to be extremely compelling.
If there is an existing market, questions here involve whether it is ripe for disruption, whether the technology enables something better, cheaper, or faster (for example) than existing solutions, and whether the market is historically amenable to new ideas.
Competition
Most ideas have several implementations. If there are others in the same field, the analyst needs to ensure that the others don’t have obvious advantages over the company in question.
Moreover, this is the place where the analyst should identify any potential weaknesses in the company’s position moving forward. For instance, a fundamental weakness in the STORJ system is that the token is not required for purchasing storage.
Timing
With many ICO ideas, the timing may be too late or too early. It’s important for the analyst to consider how much demand there is for the product in question. While the IPO boom funded a lot of great ideas that eventually did come to fruition, a good analyst would recognize when an idea is too early, too late, or just right.
Progress To Date
Some of the least compelling ICO propositions are those that claim their founders will achieve some far-off goal, sometime in the future, just so long as they have your cash with which to do it.
More interesting (usually) is the ICO that seeks to further some progress along the path to success, and which has a clearly-identified roadmap with achievable and reasonable milestones along the way. Founders who are already partially-invested in their products are generally more invested in their futures.
Community Support & Hype
Having a strong community is one of the fundamental building blocks of any strong blockchain project. It is important that the project demonstrates early on that it is able to generate and build a strong and empowered support base.
The ICO marketplace is becoming more crowded and more competitive. While in the past it was enough to merely announce an offering, today’s successful ICO’s work hard to build awareness and excitement around their offering.
Price & Token Distribution
One of the biggest factors weighing any analysis is price. The lower the price the more there is to gain. But too low of a price may result in an under capitalized project. It is therefore important to evaluate price relative to the individual project, its maturity and the market it is going after.
The total supply of tokens should also be justified by the needs of the project. Issuing a billion tokens for no reason will do nobody any good.
Communication
Communication is key. The success of a project is strongly tied to the project leaders’ ability to communicate their goals and achievements.
Things don’t always go as planned but addressing issues and keeping the community and investors in the loop can make or break a project.
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