BMJ Score: 3
Market
Transparency
Team
Token
Adoption
Quick Summary
140 crypto investors read thisCommentary
In developing countries, over 1.5 billion people live without water and over 1.3 billion people do not have access to electricity. Like a tree or plant, the Nama platform is powered by the sun and returns fruits. In this case, the fruit comes in the form of access to technology, electricity, water, and air purification. In addition to providing basic services through solar energy, Namacoin aims to address the lack of big data in third world countries. This data is often used to optimize operations, improve services, market products, and increase revenue. Specifically, big data can help predict food shortages, predict agricultural shortcomings via weather, prevent the spread of diseases, and improve financial services. Data can be bought with tokens by larger companies like Facebook and Google, journalists, universities, NGOs, and governments. The Namastree platform is actually a patented device powered by photovoltaic panels that can power various systems via solar energy to produce services such as clean water, energy, air purification, WiFi, and battery charging. We think this is a great market use case for blockchain because the smart contracts will ensure transparency on the use of donated funds and provide relevant information such as donation amount, timestamps, donor, and recipients. We love how unique the patented device is, and it has already been featured in multiple conferences including the CES in Las Vegas this year. That being said, the beta has not been released yet. While the team does have some interesting partnerships in the nonprofit and engineering IoT space, they are very small and there is very little information available regarding their prior experience. The platform will be built on the ETH network, and the token is a utility token. At the end of the day, Namacoin has the lead time advantage, but this will not be the case forever. We encourage the project to ensure that the team is large enough to help bring its whitepaper to life so that the platform can help change the world.
Investment Information:
- How to invest: Token sale smart contract is “coming soon” according to the website.
- Discount: Up to 40% bonus
- Eligibility: 1 NAM = $0.30 includes bonus
- Jurisdiction: Sardegna
- Payments Accepted: ICO accepts Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Market: 3.5
- Problem addressed/solved: Namacoin wants to solve the most significant problems in developing countries, including lack of electricity and access to technology, lack of clean water, contaminated air, and lack of big data creation.
- Target customers/customer/ segments/verticals: Namacoin claims that the following entities will seek access to the data that the Namastree can generate: big companies, journalists, universities, governments, NGOs, and international organizations. These entities could use the data for a variety of reasons including research and analysis, improvement of services, and more.
- Value creation: Namacoin aims to become the token for data scientists to support the development of third world countries in an easy, fast, and secure way using Namastree devices. Namastree has been created with the intention to develop a better world and give to third world countries the opportunity at a better life with the usage of data and blockchain.
- Competition: Namacoin has a unique idea that appears to be the first of its kind. It is using patented hardware so the competition won’t be able to copy the project. It’s safe to say that Namacoin could be the only player in this space from the blockchain startup industry.
- Market size/potential: Approximately 1 billion people live in third world countries, and only 1 in 4 people on the planet have access to clean water and electricity. The demand for insight into these circumstances is high as these parts of the world are in need of significant change in view of the level that technology has achieved in recent years.
- Regulatory risks: It will be very important to monitor the security of fund storage for charities as well as the transfer of data in light of GDPR requirements.
Transparency: 3
- Investor value: Investors must determine for themselves whether a legitimate demand exists for the data that will be mined by the Namastree device because that’s the only way the NAM utility token will increase in value. NAM token holders will also be eligible for bonuses/rewards, but these rewards will only be able to go toward charities or humanitarian causes of their choice.
- Disclosures: Namacoin provides a whitepaper, lite paper, and website to explain their project, but each method could use some improvement. The whitepaper is on the shorter side and honestly looks more like a rough draft, and the lite paper really doesn’t give any valuable information. Their patent information on page 17 of the whitepaper might be the bright spot in terms of their disclosures. They acquired the invention patent for their Namastree device back in 2014. Lastly, there’s a huge red flag in that the site does not give any information regarding the process of investing in the project; if you want funds for your project, you should probably add that “how to invest” information on your front page.
- Token distribution: 50% ICO, 25% founders and team, 15% reserved funding, 5% advisors, and 5% airdrop.
- Use of proceeds: 40% first Namalands creations, 25% company management, 10% team, 10% platform development, 10% employers, 5% marketing.
- Caps: Soft cap: $1 million USD; Hard cap: $20 million USD
Team: 2.5
- Track record: Namacoin does not provide any employee background information, so all facts in this analysis were sourced from LinkedIn. The Namacoin consists of a small group of seven team members and one advisor. A good portion of the team has yet to add Namacoin to their profiles, making it seem as if they do not even work for this project. The CEO has a lackluster LinkedIn profile with only 50- 101 connections as of writing. His past experience consists mostly of management positions (all details written in Italian). The highlight of the team has to be the CFO, Giovanni Sanna. Sanna has his MBA and has put it to good use founding and co-founding a few prior companies, but again… he hasn’t listed Namacoin on his page as of writing.
- Integrity: The team’s trustworthiness/integrity could come into question as they have some major holes in the credibility of the team. They should look into providing more info on the site for each team member, beefing up their LinkedIn accounts, and actively posting updates on their social media sites and blog.
- Salvatore Tegas, CEO (LinkedIn)
- Marco Tegas, COO (LinkedIn)
- Giovanni Sanna, CFO (LinkedIn)
- Andrea Carrucciu, Blockchain Strategist (LinkedIn)
Team Members
Token Mechanics: 3.5
- MVP: The Namastree device has been in existence since 2014 when the first prototype was developed by the Tegas family. So the hardware has already been in place for years, which is a good sign because most blockchain startups that require hardware need the ICO funding just to build it. The beta platform for Namacoin won’t be live until Q1 of 2019.
- Token use case: NamaCoin is an ERC20 token that will allow the holders to communicate with the platform and that gives them access to multiple features. NAM will be used for the acquisition of data regarding developing countries like atmospheric data or information about water consumption, electricity usage, and many others. Token spent on the platform will be redistributed 10% to a goal for donating new devices, 50% to all the community holders, and 40% to another charity campaign. Users can also instantly donate to the charity of their choice on the platform using blockchain to make sure it goes to the right cause.
- Value-added: It seems that the NAM token will be used primarily to purchase data generated by the Namastree device. This data will be purchased by those who want to study a place of interest without actually having to go there and collect information like atmospheric pressure, electricity levels in the community, and much more.
- Decentralization: Namacoin has no mention of a fully decentralized platform, but it appears that it will be at least partly decentralized.
- Token Supply: Max supply of 95,700,000
User Adoption: 2
- Technical difficulty/investment expertise needed: Namacoin has created a device that gives people access to electricity and clean water. It generates energy through solar panels and distributes that energy in the form of services. It’s designed for underdeveloped communities that don’t have access to basic human technology. A complete overview of the project can be found at the following link.
- Halo effect: Namacoin has partnerships with Westport for the installation of their devices, Dardegna Ricerche for necessary tools, and Clhub for exposure to multiple markets. They also won the Italian “Green Pride of Innovation” award back in October of 2017. More details on their partnerships and awards can be found on section 3.4 of the whitepaper.
- Buzz: Once again we find another project with approximately 2,000 followers across all social media platforms, but their post engagement is nothing or next to nothing. Plus, each account only has around 10 posts even though the project has been around since early July 2018.
