DentCoin - Flying Under the Radar and Tokenizing the Mobile Data Industry
For my first Steemit article I wanted to share my thoughts on a token I own and am excited for the future about: Dent www.dentcoin.com
Dent converts your unused mobile data into cash for the plan owner, while offering a more agile and affordable solution for someone looking to purchase extra mobile data. From their website, they are "Creating a world-wide marketplace on Ethereum Blockchain to sell and buy Mobile Data with DENT Tokens" that facilitates the exchange of mobile data. The concept is great, and looking at the white paper, they have a technologic solution to make this a reality. The number of smart phones is exponentially growing and data will always be in high demand, not to mention IoT devices coming down the pipe. Due to local and regional laws, companies, and progress, the market for mobile data has a lot of inefficiencies leading to poor service and high costs. DENT should bring competition into the system while offering a much needed solution for millions of people.
Will it work?
This is the concept of "found money" that is all the rage in FinTech companies right now, creating money from services and things you already do. Imagine trading your unused data at the end of each month to charity? or in exchange for coins for your favorite mobile game? You could always get DENT and exchange it for cash, or hold it for data usage sometime in the future. You already pay for data, why not gain the flexibility of selling it or trading it for rewards? This is the consumer side of things, which by itself is pretty strong.
Over the next few years and beyond, the number of internet connected devices is also going to skyrocket. DENT could be a cheap and effective solution for consumer products which require internet, such as GoPro cameras or for a VR headset? Will you sign up for a Verizon sim card to plug into the camera? Will that work in the different countries and under the different providers wherever you are? Now imagine the GoPro has a DENT plugin installed. The user could get xxx free DENT with purchase, good for xxGB of data anywhere in the world at the lowest market rate. No contracts, no provider issues, just the software that sources data from local sellers who are part of the system. The internet would travel with the device, not with the sim card or location. This also works very well for IoT devices that use a very small amount of internet, and would be too expensive to pay for an entire data plan. If these devices require a dedicated connection (and wifi is not an option) a solution like DENT would work very well.
Maybe I'm too optimistic but this seems to be a wide open market without a dominant solutions provider, and DENT could easily gain a % of the market with a solid product and team, even if they only launch in several countries with several providers.
Key points from founders and team: (emphasis mine)
Tero Katajainen (Founder and CEO) is a serial entrepreneur and an experienced software architect who founded the predecessor company of DENT Wireless in 2014 to create a commerce platform with advanced algorithms for behavioral analysis of markets.
Mikko Linnamäki, (Co-Founder) who is also Co-Founder of DOVECOT Oy, the company behind the Open-Source IMAP Server DOVECOT which has an install base of over 4 million servers and a 72% global IMAP server market share. source: http://openemailsurvey.org
Andee Vollmer (Co-Founder) is the Mobile specialist in the team with 12 years experience on Mobile Apps, starting with Symbian in 2005 and today on iOS and Android.
Michael Wirth (Director of Payment Systems and GM UK & Ireland) has 20 years of experience in large-scale transaction projects, amongst others he was Director of Products and Services at eNett International, a Travelport company and leading specialist for payment solutions in the travel industry."
Ville Sundell (Smart Contract Specialist), who has pioneered smart contract based legal entities, being the first to create companies solely on the Ethereum blockchain without any human intervention through Etherprises LLC.
Dr. Rainer Deutschmann (Advisor) brings in 20 years of telco and tech senior executive experience in companies like McKinsey, Deutsche Telekom and Reliance. Most recently, as Chief Product & Innovation Officer, Rainer with his fellow leadership team launched Reliance Jio and acquired 100 million customers within six months. Jio disrupts the telco landscape to democratize mobile broadband for the 1.3 billion people in India.
Ransu Salovaara, CEO of TokenMarket
"He launched Europe’s first bitcoin-backed Exchange Traded Instrument, BitcoinETI, that is listed in Gibraltar Stock Exchange and traded in Frankfurt Stock Exchange"
Reasons it's undervalued:
- Lack of Exchanges
It's currently only on HitBTC and EtherDelta, as far as I know, which are both very low in terms of volume. As interest builds, it will be picked up on several larger exchanges as traders start looking for it, generating more interest and leading to a higher price. - No Product...yet
They don't have a product yet and it may seem pie in the sky, especially since the ICO already occurred, but they did raise somewhere around $10 million, and there are screenshots (mockups probably) of a mobile app that looks like some time as been put into it. Once this product comes out, more headlines or press releases, and more interest in the coin. The idea is great but we need to see it in action for a lot of investors to feel good enough to invest. - Lack of Partnerships with Telecom Providers - ROLL OUT Q417
DENT already has a rewards partnership, but no telecom partners yet. It sounds like this is negative, but their partner Aquto is the current market leader for sponsored data and data rewards, and Aquto has partnerships with mobile data providers. DENT is rolling out services in Q4 2017, and it's always better to get in before big (successful) rollouts. These details were released at a conference in July, less than a month ago. I don't think people are giving them enough credit for the progress made thus far. Kim Riley, CEO and Founder of Aquto said this: “Connecting through Aquto’s platform unlocks some of the world’s leading carriers and will enable their customers to gain access to more mobile data, possibly the most vital and fungible commodity today." Aquto will be the first implementation of the DENT exchange so follow closely for leading indicators of success. - No mention on Coinmarketcap.com (OUTDATED / ADDED 8-12-2017)
Not sure if this is intentional or what, but it seems strange that they are still not listed on CMC. This is a major source of information and leads for investors, so I'd imagine the interest will go up once people learn more and more about it. It also directs people to the correct exchanges to purchase. (When I wrote this yesterday, DENT still wasn't on CNC, but as of today or last night, it was added. Coincidentally we saw the price move up 100% on EtherDelta since that happened.)
ISSUES
Things to be concerned about: The lack of visibility, PR, and contact from the DENT team. I know they are hard at work, and I honestly haven't done a ton of research into finding updates, but I haven't heard anything regardless. Their Youtube page hasn't posted in a month (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyxn3sx68u1VrErs_tNI7ig) and no tweets since the ICO ended. I would like more updates and a larger presence on social media at least, it lets people know whats happening, gives people something to discuss, and it brings more awareness to DENT. There was an update from DENT with details about claiming pre-sale tokens, but nothing else since. This may turn out to be a blessing as interest builds without much promotion. When the promotion and marketing teams start ramping up their budgets, we should see more interest in the coin.
More issues: The lack of specific telecom programming/engineering experience of the team. Usually you want to see a SME on staff (one is an advisor) so I hope the next dev hire has strong telecom experience / background. I also think a product and service roadmap would be helpful to get an idea of when everything is planned to be rolled out. The 100 billion coins are worrisome, although with the scale of their project it makes sense to have a large amount, so it may be nothing. The extra coins are kept in reserve for 6 months and released quarterly as need. This also is worrisome but not the worst thing I've ever heard in crypto.
The last macro concern is if they can even pull off what they set out to do. It's going to be tough to get telecoms on board, and that may be a bug hurdle to overcome. Their partnership with Aquto is very promising: read this exert from the press release about their partnership: "Through this partnership, Aquto’s Tier-1 mobile operators partners will be able to exchange DENT tokens for mobile data. DENTs are designed to be the global currency for mobile data, thus also enable trading and donating of mobile data through the DENT marketplace. Both, iOS and Android devices will be enabled. Though DENT’s Ethereum blockchain powered Exchange, anyone can buy, sell or donate mobile data using DENTs as global currency for mobile data. "
I don't believe it's scamcoin, going anywhere, or anything like that. I just would like more details from the company. The concept is great, the partnership is a strong step in the right direction. The leadership team knows how to make software at least, and they have a strong technical background to get it done. Still a risky bet without a product coming right away, but over time it could en up being very valuable.
If they give one big announcement of a major telecom ANYWHERE, then I think we are looking for much higher prices. In the meantime...Let me know what you think about this article, what I missed, what you liked!
PS I looked at these other Steemit articles discussing DENT, you should too:
Why DENT COIN? https://steemit.com/dentcoin/@brightdhykseen/why-dent-coin
DENT Coin #ICO https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@jerrison42k4/dent-coin-ico (interesting comments)
DENT coin ICO: next huge price growth opportunity? https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@alex13/dent-coint-ico-next-huge-price-growth-opportunity
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