ICON 3Q Achievements
 Greetings from the ICON Team,
We now have less than three months left in 2018! The keyword of the ICON team's third quarter was 'Transformation', as it was full of new challenges and successes in terms of both technology and business.
First, the infrastructure for the ICON SCORE (Smart Contract on Reliable Environment) development environment is now fully operational through the MainNet 3.0 update. This is an important milestone, as now the ICON platform can support various DApps and services.
Additionally, as a rebranding strategy to maximize synergies of the interchain project, we strengthened the brand connectivity through changing the corporate name and CI (Corporate Image) of theloop to ICONLOOP. We also aim to strengthen ICON's public blockchain ecosystem in earnest with newly recruited council members from large institutions such as Kakao and SK Planet.
Let's take a brief look at a few key categories in which ICON made progress over Q3 2018.
Key Performance in the Third Quarter of 2018
1) loopchain use-case
ICON's core blockchain engine, loopchain, has been recognized by government agencies, organizations and businesses, including the Seoul Metropolitan Government, Korea National Election Commission (NEC), and Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME). loopchain will be demonstrated extensively to Seoul standard blockchain platform, mobile-voting, used car trading, voting and ballot counting systems, and a 'Digital Plaza for Small Business' program. loopchain will advance into the global financial blockchain market by developing a tailored blockchain service model for banks, insurance companies, broker-dealers, and other financial services firms through cooperation with SK Holdings C&C. We will continue to work together with various entities to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for loopchain throughout the industry.
2) MOU/Partnership
ICON formed strategic partnerships with blockchain solution companies, CertiK and Portal Network, to further stabilize the ICON Platform and improve user experience. Automation in smart contact formal verification will provide a more stable ICON ecosystem, and the Blockchain Name Service (BNS) standard will support the ICON Name Service, ICONick , enhancing the accessibility of blockchain.
ICON has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with SK Planet and the W Foundation to explore diverse use-cases as well. The ICON team will be applying our blockchain technology to OK Cashbag and Syrup, Korea's largest point mileage services, creating real-world value for blockchain technology.
3) Ecosystem
ICX Station and the Developers Portal are officially launched to support blockchain startups and development ecosystems. Since last April, ICON has been sponsoring DApp demo days on a monthly basis, and ICX Station will further allow ICON DApps to be launched globally, starting with San Francisco in the U.S. The developer portal provides open source, up-to-date development news, community space and acts as the hub for information sharing among developers.
Additionally, ICONLOOP was selected to participate in 'Cultivating Innovative Youth Talents 2018' supervised by Korea Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), while ICON has been selected to run an official program for the Digital Strategy MBA course at aSSIST (a Seoul School of Integrated Sciences & Technologies).
We will lead the long-term growth of the blockchain industry through the development of a strong ecosystem and educational programs to support it.
4) Development
The ICON ecosystem now faces a turning point toward a full-scale expansion with MainNet version 3.0 update, opening of the TestNet, GitHub open source release, and Yellow Paper announcements. In addition to SCORE operation, ICONex and ICON Tracker updates are also being carried out according to the MainNet update. The 'ICONstitution and Governance, Transaction Fee and SCORE Operation Policy' papers were announced to generate excitement in the community, intrigue a developer community, and get people thinking about their role as an "ICONist".
Future updates on technology and operational policy, such as the ICON Incentives Scoring System (IISS) and an expanded version of ICONest to support DApp project launch and token sales, will continue.
5) Event
The ICON team sponsored and participated in various blockchain conferences and events, including Korea Blockchain Week, Blockchain Seoul, Upbit Developer Conference (UDC), PYCON, DE-FERENCE, SW Convergence Hackathon, and The Wall. All were invaluable moments for us to introduce ICON's vision to developers, investors, and academia, and grow our ecosystem of ICONists.
Starting with San Francisco Blockchain Week in Silicon Valley, we will continue spreading awareness of the ICON Project through various routes in the fourth quarter.
The innovations of the third quarter of 2018 have laid a strong groundwork for the ICON Ecosystem. We look to the fourth quarter as a tipping point, in which we can utilize this groundwork to reach our full potential.
Thank you,
Hyperconnect the World
ICON Team
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