“Hyperconnect the world” – per the ICON website, that’s what this South Korean-based blockchain startup is trying to achieve. They have the ambitious aim to link all the world’s blockchain networks and traditional infrastructures, one that has seen ICX, their native token, receive a lot of hype. In less than a year since their initial coin offering, ICX is currently the 34th largest in the market, at a cap of more than US$260 million.
As a young cryptocurrency, ICX is still a little bit of an unknown, but also presents significant potential for growth. This guide is going to tell you how to get in on the action and invest in ICON.
Although there are many competitors to ICON in the market, this is one of the most successful blockchain networks as of today, considering there are more than 2 thousand altcoins in the world.
What is ICON?
With a lot of different smart contract platforms coming to prominence, the question of interoperability comes up. How will NEO applications be able to communicate with Ethereum or Cardano apps? This is what ICON is hoping to solve. Their platform will aim to allow different blockchain networks to work with each other, as well as enabling seamless exchanges between different cryptocurrencies.
It’s an ambitious project with a significant end use case, but is still in a relatively early stage of development. However, with the launch of their mainnet in 2018, ICON is poised to see significant growth – as of October 2018, the network is already serving around 1000 transactions per day. It’s also partnered with the biggest telecom company in South Korea, SK.
It’s very hard to find anywhere to buy ICX with Fiat currencies at this stage. So our guide is going to show you how to trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin or Tether for ICX on one of the world’s largest exchanges, Binance.
Some of the competitors that the digital currency currently has include Cardano (ADA) and Cosmos (ATOM). If you want to know more about these two projects, we have created in-depth guides about them.
Step 1: Register on Binance
Binance is one of the most popular and recognized crypto exchanges in the world. According to CoinMarketCap, Binance is the 10th largest crypto exchange with a market capitalization of $685 million in the last 24 hours.
Users tend to select this crypto trading platform because it has a large liquidity for altcoins and because it has been operating in the market for over two years as a leader in the space. Interested investors in purchasing ICON can do so through four different trading pairs, including ICX/BNB, ICX/BTC, ICX/ETH and ICX/USDT. ICON currently represents 0.22% of the total trading volume in this platform.
The services offered by this crypto exchange are competitive and are at the forefront of the industry.
If you haven’t already registered, you will need to register an account on Binance. The registration process should be quick, with Binance’s user-friendly interface.
Step 2: Verify your account
Binance requires you to submit a few verification documents before you can start trading. You will also need to set up security measures and 2-Factor Authentication to protect your account.
Step 3: Send BTC, ETH, BNB or USDT to Your Binance Account
Once your account is approved, you will have to send some Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin or Tether to your account on Binance. If you don’t already hold one of these coins, people from most places in the world can purchase with a credit or debit card from sites like Coinmama, Changelly or Coinbase.
To do this, go to the top bar and select “Funds”, then “Deposits”. Click on the dropdown menu and choose which coin you wish to send.
At the next screen, you will be given a wallet address to send your funds to. Make sure you send only the selected type of coin to this address – ie. only Bitcoin to the Bitcoin address. If you send any other coin to this wallet, your deposit could be lost.
Step 4: Wait for confirmation
You may need to allow some time for the transaction to go through, depending on the level of activity on the network. Be patient and make sure your deposit has gone through before advancing.
Step 5: Find and select the BTC, ETH, BNB or USDT Pair
Now you’ve made a deposit, it’s time to go into the exchange section of Binance.
On the top menu, select “Exchange”, then “Basic”. This will bring up the trading screen.
On the right-hand side will be a box showing BTC, ETH, BNB, and USDT pairs. Choose the coin you deposited earlier, and search for ICX. Click on the pair (ICX/BTC, ICX/ETH, ICX/BNB or ICX/USDT).
Optional: Use Binance’s advanced tools to buy at the right time
Even in their Basic exchange, Binance offers a number of ways to help users buy low, and sell high. This includes a comprehensive price and order history for your selected pair, as well as limit orders. Limit orders let you choose a specific price at which you wish to buy or sell. So, when ICX reaches the price you’ve entered, Binance will automatically execute a trade for you. Alternatively, you can elect to buy at the current market price – this should be fine for novice traders.
With the advanced tools provided by Binance, it is possible for users to be able to improve their trading activities and find better prices for the digital currencies they want to purchase or sell. In this case, by using limit orders, investors will have the possibility to reduce their trading fees and also select better prices.
Step 6: Choose the amount of ICX you want to buy
Now select how much you want to buy. You can choose a certain amount of ICX, or to spend 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% of the coins in your BTC/ETH/BNB or USDT wallet.
Step 7: Buy ICON!
Click “Buy ICX” to complete your order. After the network confirmation is complete, you’re done!
Step 8: Move your coins to a secure ICON wallet
The best practice in cryptocurrency is always to keep your coins in a secure wallet that you control. That means moving your coins off the exchange when you’re finished trading.
Hardware wallets are usually the best way to storing cryptocurrencies. They would allow you to have your funds protected at all times and free from attacks or hacks. Nonetheless, having one of these wallets is not free.
Because it has only recently transferred from an ERC-20 placeholder to a token on the ICON blockchain, there is not yet a wide range of wallets supporting ICX. The most secure option is to use a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano S or the Trezor (both of which support ICX). Alternatively, ICONex is a free multi-platform ICX wallet developed by the ICON team themselves.
To withdraw your coins from Binance, select “Funds” then “Withdrawals”.
Select “ICX” from the dropdown menu.
This will prompt you for a wallet address to withdraw your coins to. Add the address from your ICX wallet here, the click “Submit”. Wait a few moments for confirmation from Binance that the withdrawal has been completed.
In sum, Binance has a large liquidity for altcoins, which is good for prive discovery and trading activities. Moreover, it is also possible to acquire digital assets on this platform using a credit card. Nevertheless, not all the trading pairs are available for credit cards purchases. In the future, ICON could be added to this option.
So that’s it! Now you know how to begin investing in ICX, the token behind the hyperconnected decentralized network of the future.
