BMJ Score: 2.8
Market
Transparency
Team
Token
Adoption
Quick Summary
70 crypto investors read thisCommentary
Dona is well organized, and the team has a very realistic concept if the whitepaper comes to fruition. There is a definite need for the increase of transparency in the flow of donations, as well as a need to deepen the interest in, understanding of, and empathy for donation markets. Furthermore, remittance charges are very high and take value away from the cause at hand. We like that Dona coin aims to tackle an honorable cause, but are worried with their lack of a functioning platform. The team is not very large, nor do they have a large board of advisors to help our confidence levels rise. The roadmap is not very detailed, and there is no set date on when the platform is to be released. The donation sphere is a very competitive space, and will require Dona to bring their whitepaper to life quickly if they hope to succeed.
Investment Information:
- How to invest: Interested investors can register for the pre-sale at the following link.
- Discount: 35% bonus throughout sale
- Eligibility: TBD
- Token Price: 1 DNC = 0.01 USD
- Jurisdiction: Hong Kong
- Minimum purchase: 100 USD (10,000 DNC)
- Accepted Currencies: NEM (XEM), Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH)
Market: 3
- Problem addressed/solved: The flow of donations calls for greater transparency. Charity scams continue to appear in local and national news as criminals find clever ways to steal people’s money using charity as a front. Dona wants to eliminate the worry and doubt surrounding donations by implementing their new platform. They’ll look to solve four of the most pressing issues, including unknown donation usage, lack of understanding in NPOs (Non-Profit Organizations), high remittance fees, and misuses of donations.
- Target customers/customer/ segments/verticals: Dona seeks to improve the donation process as a whole along with the experience of all stakeholders in the industry. This includes the supporter (a provider of donations whether corporate or individual), recipient (NPOs, various groups, individuals), and the suppliers (purchasers of the specified relief supplies with the donated money).
- Value creation: Utilizing blockchain technology, Dona wants to ensure transparency in donation activities, while building a community to share information about charity organizations, assessments, and successful experiences in making donations. Dona looks to accomplish this goal by:
- Acting as a transparent way to connect supporters and recipients
- Eliminating intermediate traders from the process of collecting and distributing donations via blockchain
- Protecting the donation flow from tampering
- Using a uniform remittance charge to keep all proceeds toward donations rather than expensive transaction fees
- Competition: Although Dona appears to be a “first-of-its-kind” project, other blockchain companies are also taking a stab at the fractured donation system currently in place. For example, Giftcoin, a pre-ICO already reviewed by BMJ, looks to disrupt the process of donations as well, bringing security and transparency along with it. Dona will either have to beat similar projects with superior marketing or a higher quality product.
- Market size/potential: According to Giving USA, “total giving rose 2.7 percent in current dollars in 2017 (1.4 percent adjusted for inflation) from the revised estimate of $379.89 billion for total giving in 2015.” Total giving in both the U.S and across the globe has seen a steady increase in recent years. Dona, if widely used, might further increase that number as more people will feel comfortable knowing that their money is going to the right place for its intended purpose.
- Regulatory risks: Cryptocurrency will continues to fluctuate with daily variations, and the market is small than that of fiat currency. The range of price fluctuations might produce liquidity and financial risk.
Transparency: 3
- Investor value: The goal of Dona is to make the path of donations public. Investors will achieve a high value in the DONA token if supporters and charity organizations flock to the platform for a safer, more transparent, and more efficient donating experience.
- Disclosures: Dona takes a serious approach when describing the details of their token sale. They have all the information necessary for the token sale, but lack in nearly all other departments. Their whitepaper, the only document provided, talks more about the mission and goals of the project rather than the concrete logistics of Dona and how they plan to execute. However, they disclose their team activity and events like no other ICO on the market. Their constant blog/website updates on current events helps their case. The project uses the NEM platform to capture use trace, response view, and donation cycle to stimulate donation activities with gamification theory.
- Token distribution: Private and Presale 9.5%, Public Token Sale 47.3%, AirDrop and Marketing 13.2%, Operation 20%, and Stakeholders 10%.
- Use of proceeds: Dona has two scenarios prepared for fund allocation: For soft cap: 70% development, 20% marketing, and 10% operation & administration. For hard cap: 40% development, 40% marketing, and 20% operation & administration.
- Caps: Soft cap: $1 million USD; Hard cap: $15 million USD
Team: 2
- Track record: The Dona team page raises a few concerns in that only two members have LinkedIn accounts and, of those two, only the CEO has over 100 connections on LinkedIn. It appears that each employee wrote his or her own bio for the website, leaving little room for unbiased/objective analysis of their qualifications. Furthermore, only a few members actually describe their past work endeavors while most simply tout their supposed experience/knowledge. The Dona team must provide better representation for their employees.
- Integrity: Although the uncertain backgrounds of the team members might pose a red flag, their integrity appears to be intact. They have a unique “activity” page on their site with photos from events or conferences that they’ve attended in the past. Anyone can watch the team as they conduct presentations or meet with other companies. It’s an intuitive way to make the team more personable rather than just a few face pictures behind a screen.
- Kouhei Wada, CEO (LinkedIn)
- Kouta Tanimura, Marketing Officer (LinkedIn)
Team Members
Token Mechanics: 3
- MVP: Dona’s absence of a listed MVP with a coinciding trial link might deter most investors, but a closer examination reveals that their version 1.0 has been developed according to the roadmap. They need to find a way to share their version 1.0 platform as proof of concept; otherwise, it’s just words with nothing to back it up.
- Token use case (What does it do? Is it really required?): The DONA coins are used for sending donation money from supporters to recipients after system deployment. The DONA token will be required to use the platform and its associated benefits (tracking, transparency, community). It is expected that the DONA token will be listed on an exchange.
- Value-added: Dona gives users access to the platform and will function as the sole token for sending and receiving funds on Dona. The system revolves around the transparency of the blockchain and thus requires a specific token to get the job done. Dona will also use the NEM blockchain so they do not have to build and maintain their own.
- Decentralization: Dona utilizes a fully decentralized platform to increase transparency and trust.
- Token Supply: Max supply of 3.7 billion DNC
User Adoption: 3.5
- Technical difficulty/investment expertise needed: Dona utilizes a user-friendly concept so that anyone looking to donate safely and securely will be able to do so without reading through an entire user manual.
- Halo effect: Dona is “considering” a system where supporters can send cryptocurrency to suppliers directly, helping them increase their funds for future charity cases. They want to increase their business partners in order to pull this off, but they don’t have any listed at the moment. It appears that they’re well behind in that process.
- Buzz: Dona has an astounding 25K Facebook and a 26K Twitter following. They’ve certainly made their presence felt on social media as it’s much easier for people to get behind a project that seeks to improve charitable acts and donations. Furthermore, they’ve amassed a whopping 44,000 Telegram members. That said, there is no buzz around key industry influencers discussing Dona as a valuable investment or project, which is concerning.
