[Courtesy of Siksin]
SEOUL -- FANTOM, a consortium involving restaurants and delivery service app startups, started recruiting foreign institutional investors mainly related to cryptography in a private pre-sale this week to fund a project aimed at building a fast and reliable third-generation blockchain network.
The recruitment of overseas institutions will be completed on May 15, followed by a public pre-sale. The consortium plans to raise a capital of 50 billion won for an initial coin offering (ICO) in Hong Kong in mid-June.
ICO is a means of crowdfunding centered around cryptocurrency, which can be a source of capital for startup companies. Crowdfunded cryptocurrency is sold to investors in the form of "tokens" which supposedly become functional units of currency.
The consortium is led by Siksin, a restaurant recommendation app which uses 150 million check-in data to pick 25,000 top restaurants. "We will be the first blockchain technology to be used universally in real life by completing the third-generation blockchain technology that represents the whole world," said Siksin head Ahn Byung-Ik.
"We will first recruit renowned organizations abroad to promote the FANTOM project globally," he said. Online-to-offline startups enable consumers to use an app or website to order everything. Food delivery apps are very popular in South Korea.
Siksin said in a statement posted on its website that the FANTOM platform can be readily used in a variety of application services and make it available to all partners worldwide. "It is an innovative and powerful blockchain technology that can be used in large-scale applications with reliability and scalability."
The platform will be applied first to transactions by 90 delivery service app startups and companies affiliated with the Food Tech Association. Payment will be made through virtual money.
Siksin said FANTOM would help lower transaction fees and change a complex network of food distribution systems by integrating them into a transparent and manageable network. "We aim to improve the culinary culture of people by providing safe healthy food with distribution history," it said.
The idea of using blockchain technologies in improving the payment system and the food ingredient distribution network was supported by Dan Sevall, the director of finance and human resources at Military Advantage (formerly, Military.com).
The American expert in blockchain and cryptocurrency said earlier that blockchain would benefit consumers and businesses with low fees by removing any given financial intermediary and providing security that is almost equal to that of large financial institutions. The blockchain technology will provide a high level of control in supply chains and distribution networks, he said, adding it can be used in tracking data or products in real-time.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
