ICON is a public blockchain protocol and smart-contract platform committed to building a hyperconnected future with Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP)—its chain-agnostic interoperability solution. The ICON Ecosystem aims to connect blockchains and communities. The organization’s core goals are to:
- Enable easy development of solutions that are interoperable across multiple blockchains.
- Deliver as broad a suite of solutions as possible and reach as large a potential market as possible.
- Bring the benefits of blockchain technology to masses.
This guide will introduce you to the diversity of the ICON Ecosystem through short overviews of ICON-related projects divided into four main categories: Gaming and NFTs, Exchanges, Explorers, and Blockchain Transmission Protocol Partners.
Gaming and NFTs
ICONBet: ICONBet is a fully decentralized gambling platform that awards house winnings to everyone who plays, removing the house edge.
Inanis Invictus: Inanis Invictus is a tabletop and collectible gaming experience empowered by NFT and blockchain technology. Inanis Invictus seeks to marry traditional tabletop and collectible gaming experiences with digital and NFT (Non-Fungible Token) technologies on the ICON blockchain network to create a unique and engaging gaming experience for the crypto and digital age.
SuperNode Racing: SuperNode Racing is an NFT car racing game built on the ICE Network, an extension network of ICON. According to the CPS proposal, users can create and own racing cars styled around blockchain tokens like ICON. Owners can race their cars for prizes. The car artwork looks fantastic, but we’ll need to wait a bit for the game to launch.
Pengwyn Project: The Pengwyn Project is a community-driven NFT movement where interaction is essential. The project is designed as a multiple-phase journey. In the first phase of this journey, 111 handcrafted OG Pengwyn NFTs will be released on the Craft Network.
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.
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.
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. A passionate community of supporters, the Tamashi Tribe, backs Studio Mirai.
Alter: Alter is an upcoming clothing brand that ties its clothing line with collectible figurines existing both as physical items and as ICON-based NFTs.
Fandiem: Fandiem is a nonprofit fundraising platform to expand ICON’s NFT ecosystem. Fandiem is a contest fundraising platform that “harnesses the power of the fan community to do good in the world.” With donations to a selected nonprofit, fans enter to win once-in-a-lifetime experiences with their favorite artists, festivals, athletes, and creators.
Winible: Levering the power of NFTs, Winible makes investing in wine a more trustworthy and transparent experience and opens up the sector to more potential investors. It was initially built on ICON Network and then moved to the Winible Protocol. Winible assigns each bottle a token that is tradable on the Craft Network. Users can use the web platform to verify information about the bottles, visualize their NFTs, and redeem their tokens. Or they can burn their token and get the bottle delivered to their home to drink.
Yeti Strong Club: Yeti Strong Club is an amazing NFT collection built on ICON Network by FRAMD. Yetis are divided into four tribes: cloud, ice, snow, and water. Each tribe has its own unique lifestyle and habitat. Choose the tribe you like the most and join Yeti Strong Club.
Exchanges
Binance: Globally top-ranked cryptocurrency exchange Binance also serves as one of ICON’s major node validators. Binance also operates BNB Chain, a major blockchain network in its own right and a key partner in ICON’s BTP interoperability solution.
OKX: OKX is a crypto trading application. It is an innovative cryptocurrency exchange with advanced financial offerings. OKX offers cutting-edge crypto trading and earning services to lots of users in more than 180 regions.
Huobi Global: Huobi is a crypto trading platform with a wide range of trading and management services to satisfy different trading needs. It protects user assets with offline storage, multi-factor encryption, and 24/7 security monitoring.
Kraken: Kraken is a “cryptocurrency exchange for everyone.” Kraken makes buying and selling cryptocurrencies easy with its applications.
Bithumb: Bithumb emerged as the world’s No.1 exchange with a high trading volume and it has grown into the No.1 virtual asset exchange since launching its services in 2014. Bithumb has experienced the world’s best competitive edge and know-how regarding the establishment and operation of virtual asset trading and blockchain technology. The company plans on leading the future of digital financing platforms by bringing the world together.
Bitpanda: Bitpanda is a trading platform that empowers users to invest any amount of money in the stocks, cryptocurrencies, and metals they want. The platform’s aim is plain and straightforward: to make investing accessible to everyone.
Gate.io: Gate.io is a full-service digital asset exchange platform covering millions of users worldwide. The company prides itself on providing industry-leading security, and it has been audited to show 100% proof of reserves. Gate.io operates in most countries and is always committed to complying with the applicable laws where it operates.
KuCoin: The KuCoin was designed for every investor, with 24/7 world-class services in preferred channels and languages. The KuCoin app and website allow users to start crypto trading easily anytime and anywhere.
ICON Explorers
ICON Tracker: Icon Tracker is an ICON blockchain explorer. It is simple, convenient, and practical.
iconwatch: iconwatch is an ICON blockchain explorer.
RHIZOME Tracker: ICON blockchain tracker build by RHIZOME team.
Blockchain Transmission Protocol Partners
BNB Smart Chain: Formerly called Binance Smart Chain, BNB Chain is a blockchain network built for running smart contract-based applications. In essence, it’s the Layer-1 blockchain network of crypto exchange giant Binance, with emphasis on interoperability.
NEAR Protocol: NEAR Protocol is a decentralized platform and Ethereum competitor focusing on developer and user-friendliness. Its native NEAR tokens are used to pay transaction and storage fees on the NEAR crypto platform.
Moonbeam: Moonbeam is a new Polkadot smart-contract platform that makes it easy to build natively interoperable blockchain applications.
Moonriver: It is a companion network to Moonbeam. It provides a permanently incentivized canary network. New code ships to Moonriver first, where it can be used and verified under real conditions. Once proven, the same code ships to Moonbeam on Polkadot.
Harmony: Harmony is a Layer-1 blockchain using sharding and Effective Proof of Stake to achieve scalability, security, and decentralization. Its speed and cost-efficiency make it a strong smart-contract blockchain industry contender.
Algorand: Algorand is an eco-friendly proof-of-stake blockchain cryptocurrency protocol with many severe applications. Algorand’s native cryptocurrency is called ALGO.
ICE: ICE aims to become a crowdloan-funded Polkadot parachain to serve as an extension network and application hub for the ICON Ecosystem. ICE is the first network to use the Substrate SDK to extend the feature set of an existing Layer-1 blockchain.
SNOW: SNOW is the community-governed canary network to ICE. SNOW aims to become a community-oriented and crowdloan-funded Kusama parachain.
ICON Bridge: ICON Bridge is a centralized bridge for Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP) Relay System and it can be used to transfer tokens across multiple chains. It currently supports cross-chain transfers from ICON and BNB Chain.
Astar: Astar is a multi-chain smart-contract platform that supports multiple blockchains and virtual machines. The Astar Network connects the Polkadot ecosystem to Ethereum, Cosmos, and all major Layer-1 blockchains.
Kusama: Kusama is a scalable network of specialized chains built using Substrate and nearly the same codebase as Polkadot. It is an experimental development environment for teams who eager to move fast and develop on Kusama or prepare for deployment on Polkadot.
Polkadot: Polkadot‘s goal is to connect private and other chains, public and permissionless networks, oracles, and future tech that are yet to be created. It facilitates an internet where blockchains can exchange information and transactions in a way via the Polkadot relay chain. Polkadot envisions a Web where users’ identity and data are their own—safely secured from any central authority.
Substrate: Substrate is a blockchain framework for a multi-chain future. Substrate enables devs to quickly and easily build future-proof blockchains optimized for any use case. Furthermore, all Substrate-based chains are seamlessly compatible with Polkadot, granting access to a rich, interoperable ecosystem of parachains, applications, and resources.
Conclusion
The ICON Ecosystem clearly has a developed and rich infrastructure consisting of many new and already established projects. As a result, the Ecosystem has everything that crypto fans, ICX holders, staking beginners, and experienced crypto traders need.
ICON is the blockchain protocol of the future, demonstrating the undeniable benefits of today’s blockchain technology efficiently, affordably, and confidently.
Everstake is a validator for over 70 blockchains and has a dedicated team of community, DevOps, and R&D specialists. You get your blockchain community representative with Everstake.
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