ICOrating Sharpe Capital Basic Review () · 2018-03-19 · Sharpe Token (The Sharpe Capital token...

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ICOrating Sharpe Capital Basic Review (https://sharpe.capital) ICO dates (06.11.2017 06.12.2017) Web: icorating.com Email: [email protected] Twitter: @IcoRating

Transcript of ICOrating Sharpe Capital Basic Review () · 2018-03-19 · Sharpe Token (The Sharpe Capital token...

ICOrating

Sharpe Capital Basic Review (https://sharpe.capital)

ICO dates (06.11.2017 — 06.12.2017)

Web: icorating.com

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @IcoRating

Project details

Name: Sharpe Capital

Ticker symbol: SHP [2]

Project type: Sharpe Capital is an investment fund specializing in global stock markets.

[1]

Extended description of the company:

A private investment fund specializing in global stock markets. The fund's investment strategies are based on machine learning technologies, analyses of data by artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies.

[1]

Company: Sharpe Capital Ltd.

Website: https://sharpe.capital

White paper: https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/sharpe-website/whitepaper.pdf

ICO details

Public ICO start:

06.11.2017

Public ICO end:

06.12.2017

Token sale duration (weeks):

4.3

Token type: SHP

Total number of tokens:

400,000,000

Tokens available for sale (Pre-Sale + Public ICO):

60,000,000 SHP (including Pre-Sale) - 80%

Goal of fundraising:

Technological development of the application, marketing, advertising and legal support. The ICO was also launched to attract users to the platform.

Price of 1 SHP:

0.0005 ETH

Accepted for payment:

Ethereum

Bounty: 1% of all the tokens issued. Program budget: $600,000 to $900,000. [43]

Role of the tokens:

Proof-of-Membership

Staff

Key team (number of people)

5

Advisors and partners (number of people)

5

GitHub: https://github.com/sharpe-capital

Social media

Twitter: Posts: 136, followers: 1342

Telegram: Members: 314

Medium: Posts: 7, followers: 34

Slack: Followers: 120

LinkedIn: Posts: 1, followers: 21

Facebook: Posts: 55, followers: 238

Project information

Sharpe Capital is a decentralized platform designed to aggregate and analyze data regarding changes taking place on stock markets.

[2]

There is a platform and a mobile application which enables SHP token holders to receive rewards for the provision of data relating to changes happening on stock markets. If approved by regulatory authorities, the project plans to issue a derivative token (SCD), which will be used to pay dividends depending on asset efficiency. Main advantages of the platform: - neural network technologies are used to look for patterns in financial data, predicting the future cost of assets - the platform is integrated with channels on social networking services and popular online media, analyzing market changes in real time - the technology is able to group financial assets, which makes it possible to properly diversify a portfolio; - the technology is designed to predict asset prices within different time periods: four weeks, three months or one year.

[2]

Project partners: - no data available.

Project advisors: - German Leonov (https://twitter.com/LeonovG) - Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of York - Lexi Gao (https://twitter.com/lexiGao) - Legal Advisor at Suez NWS - Mike Vanderbrook (no data) - Research Associate at UC Berkeley - Jonas Sevel Gardner (https://twitter.com/jonas_karlberg) - Co-Founder of Nordic Blockchain Association - Barnaby Manerings (https://twitter.com/barnabee) - Founder of Pik

Funds raised:

- no data available.

Sharpe Capital has no customers, as the service has not yet launched.

Resume

We recommend that tokens not be purchased during the project’s ICO. The project is not actively supported by the blockchain community; this is confirmed by the few publications and discussions on specialized media resources. There are risks concerning the underdeveloped strategy and team composition. These risks are described in detail within relevant sections. As noted by the project manager, SHP token holders will be able to determine the area of Sharpe Capital's activity both by consensus and by vote. Any SHP holder may submit a proposal to be voted on by the community.

Conclusion

There are well-known blockchain specialists heading the project. The project does not enjoy much interest from the community however (a small number of followers on social networking sites compared to other projects holding ICOs, and few publications about the project in existence.) Strengths of the project: - the project has a concept for the use of machine learning Weaknesses of the project: - development plans are drawn out over too long a period - the company's market promotion strategy is not revealed in the documents provided - the company's operational plans are provided within the roadmap (no strategic development); - official documents contain little information, and very few figures on the market. Details are given in relevant sections.

Market and industry

In 2017, blockchain entrepreneurs have so far raised $327m via ICO offerings, a figure that now exceeds the $295m raised through VC funding, according to CoinDesk data. Analysis shows this development was spurred by big gains in Q2 as entrepreneurs raised $291m through ICOs during this time, compared to just $187m in traditional funding over the same period.

[https://www.coindesk.com/ico-investments-pass-vc-funding-in-blockchain-market-first/]

[36], [37]

The documents provided by the team contain no market metrics. A question concerning the market was asked via Telegram. The team sent a link to an article from their blog: https://medium.com/@sharpecapital/sharpe-capital-and-the-bancor-protocol-6691c4be4cdd. However, the article contains no market indicators either. "At Sharpe Capital, we understand the importance of providing continuous liquidity to newly issued tokens. Within the current regulatory landscape, the delay between token generation and listing on traditional exchanges is increasing, resulting in market failure".

[40]

Comment: The company has no clear market entry strategy. This is confirmed by the absence of a commercial section in the roadmap, and by the absence of relevant metrics within official company documents.

Competitors

There are several companies working in the same industry, singled out in the blog. The team, however, considers them indirect competitors, as they are working in different niches. These companies include: Cindicator, Numerai, Engima and Santiment. How Sharpe Capital differs from competitors: - Using the Sharpe platform, members receive fees in exchange for correct prediction of market trends. Cindicator also offers this opportunity. The key difference in the Cindicator model is that Cindicator requires that users start model portfolios, and rewards users based on success. With Sharpe's approach, rewards are paid based on the number of accurate predictions. - Cindicator rewards members by model portfolios and by paying dividends, while Numerai manages a hedge fund and uses its own model. Sharpe rewards members on the basis of assets, with a much lower entry barrier from the viewpoint of time and experience as compared to the Cindicator or Numerai platforms. - Technologies applied for "emotional response analysis" are of a higher level than those used by Santiment. - On the Sharpe platform, members are rewarded for their ideas, while hedge funds/investors in the capital market may receive access to the project’s data transmission channels. In contrast with Enigma Catalyst, this is not a "data market", but it secures a valuable additional income flow for Sharpe Capital and the community of its supporters. - Instead of asking members to manage model portfolios and make investment decisions, as Cindicator does, Sharpe Capital is interested in evaluating how members participate in assets.

[39]

Conclusion: In comparison with these projects, Sharpe Capital has advantages of engineering support of the platform, open documentation and active social media.

Engineering aspects of the platform

The investment platform is built on top of Amazon Web Services, using the best and most advanced cloud computing tools. This makes it possible to minimize costs by using such services as self-scaling groups and a serverless architecture via AWS Lambda functions.

[1]

Technical description

According to Sharpe Capital, the platform is based on a machine learning algorithm. In addition, a mobile application and a web platform will be developed. They will enable SHP holders to receive rewards for provided assets. The platform is based on Amazon Web Services, with the use of self-scaling systems and a serverless architecture through AWS Lambda functions.

[1]

Technologies (libraries, algorithms) used

Languages: JavaScript

Process flow diagram of the platform

Comment: A general understanding of the infrastructure of the technical component of the project is given, but the documentation does not reveal the functions.

Technological Roadmap

In the future as technology and data quantity develop, the following will be implemented:

Comment: In the course of engineering development, Sharpe Capital will be focusing more on creating the platform. The alpha version will appear in the third quarter of 2018, and the platform will be launched in the second quarter of 2019. After that, hedge funds will be dealt with.

In our opinion, the development is drawn out too much. We believe that opening a London office, growing the team and hosting a hackathon is excessive activity without previous platform development.

The following active units are present in the open repository:

Sharpe Token (The Sharpe Capital token will be available on the Ethereum public blockchain, with the ticker symbol SHP).

Screenshot of the repository

Comment: On the basis of the project’s GitHub resources, we may conclude that

the team is preparing to issue tokens. The repository also contains

the core information for the creation of smart contracts, but it is not

actively being worked on.

Conclusion: On the basis of GitHub data and the current roadmap, it seems that the project’s development is at its very beginning.

Documentation

We have analyzed Sharpe Capital's website and documentation for sufficiency and consistency for the purposes of an investment decision.

The documentation includes the white paper. This is in English only, and according to the company's director it is a beta version [42]. The project description provided in the white paper is quite detailed; however, no analytics on the future market or promotion plans have been covered. The roadmap contains plans for activities, but there are no clear project development deadlines (opening an office and hosting a hackathon are not strategic plans). There are no references to figures used by the project to justify the demand for it. There is no confirmation of the problem, and no confirmation of the demand for Sharpe Capital either. There are no statistics on future customers.

[42]

The website also provides information about the project, token allocation, the public ICO, the team and partners. The staff section contains no LinkedIn links, and using the Twitter links provided one can see inaccuracies regarding team roles (examples are given in the relevant section).

Conclusion: The documentation provides insight into the project. However, it reveals little information on technologies used or project development. The project's team can be asked questions via https://t.me/sharpecapital (https://t.me/sharpecapitalrussia).

ICO

Public ICO start:

November 6, 2017

Maximum amount

n/a

Tokens to be issued, %

n/a

Token type: SHP

Accepted for payment:

Ethereum

Cost of 1 SHP: 0.0005 ETH

Crowdsale period:

four weeks, until December 6, 2017

According to the company's director, holding SHP is a proof of membership in Sharpe Capital.

[42]

Token issue limit:

400,000,000

Token holders’ advantages: SHP token holders will be able to determine the area of Sharpe Capital's activity both by consensus and by vote. Any SHP holder may submit a proposal to be voted on by the community gathered.

[42]

Planned maximum amount to be raised:

n/a

Planned minimum amount to be raised:

n/a

Comment: The token issue is limited.

Bounty

Program start The bounty program is active, and will go on until October 9. Budget: 1% of all the tokens sold: USD 600,000 - 900,000.

Allocation of %% according to the program

Information on the bounty program is available at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2139201.0

Allocation of tokens and capital

Tokens and capital will be allocated as follows:

Allocation of tokens and capital

Project development plans

The project's roadmap devotes little attention to sales of the Sharpe Capital

application.

- 2018 (opening a London office) - 2018 (team growth, allocation of shares) - 2018 (creation of an alpha version of the platform) - 2018 (hosting a hackathon, where participants will be able to deploy their systems on the platform) - 2019 (launch of the platform with small amounts) - 2019 (first rewards will be paid to SCD holders six months after the platform launch.) - 2019 (partnership with five large hedge funds).

[2]

Conclusion: Based on the roadmap one can see that the company will focus on the development of corporate solutions. It is not clear from the documentation what industries and customers this will involve.

Staff

The team consists of five members and five advisors. Information about the main team members on the basis of LinkedIn:

- Lewis M. Barber (https://twitter.com/lewisbarber) - Co-Founder and CEO. Has experience in software development for investment banks and fail-safe transaction systems. - James A. Butler (https://twitter.com/JAButler0) - CIO Co-Founder. Has worked as an advisor to academic and commercial partners in the pharmaceutical sector. - Israel Colomer (https://twitter.com/israelcolomer) - Chief Technology Officer. Has worked with server system integration companies. - Ali Javed Darugar (https://twitter.com/AliJ_Darugar, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-javed-darugar-784854132/) - Legal Advisor. In 2017 he graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. - Ali Bros (https://twitter.com/Ali_Bros) - Leading Developer.

Conclusion: According to Twitter, Ali Javed Darugar and Ali Bros do not consider themselves part of the Sharpe Capital project; they are acting as advisors.

Marketing

Information on the project is available on various popular services, such as Twitter, Telegram, Medium, Slack, Facebook. Users actively communicate with the project's team on social networking sites. The number of the users is however rather small compared to other projects holding ICOs.

The team maintains its social networking accounts using an aggregator, explaining why available information is the same everywhere. Sometimes members' questions are missed; there is absolutely no information in the mass media. Only the blog is actively maintained, where the team tries to answer questions separately.

Comment: There is no media activity. The project is at an early stage of positioning.

Analysis of traffic on Sharpe Capital's website on the basis of Similarweb.com showed:

Sharpe Capital site traffic sources (Similarweb.com)

Comment: Most of the traffic (56.19%) comes from the use of referral links to the website. The share of direct links to the website is also high (27.36%). The third-biggest source of traffic is social networking sites (9.50%), more than 50% of which is accounted for by YouTube.

Search engine traffic:

According to SimilarWeb, of the 4.48% of the search engine traffic, 100% is "organic". This means that there is no advertising on search systems.

Comment: SimilarWeb also proves that the community's interest in the project is natural. Currently interest is being stirred up due to media coverage of partners, not the project as such.

Conclusion: Based on conducted analysis of the project's marketing activity, one may conclude that Sharpe Capital has not yet started full-fledged media activity. Relations with the blockchain community are poorly maintained.

Contacts

You may contact the developers using the following links:

Website: https://sharpe.capital

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sharpecapital

Telegram: https://telegram.me/sharpecapital

Medium: https://medium.com/@sharpecapital

Slack: https://sharpe.capital/slack

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/4859369/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharpecapital

GitHub: https://github.com/sharpe-capital

Useful reference links

1. Website: https://sharpe.capital

2. White paper:

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/sharpe-website/whitepaper.pdf

6. SimilarWeb https://www.similarweb.com/website/sharpe.capital

34. http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/vanbex-group-raises-c500000-in-first-seed-round-625417813.html

35. https://www.crunchbase.com/

36. https://tradingeconomics.com/forecast/stock-market

37. http://www.rbc.ru/opinions/business/20/04/2016/57174e6d9a7947172a16f352

38. https://tradingeconomics.com/forecast/stock-market

39. https://medium.com/@sharpecapital/sharpe-capitals-place-in-the-fintech-space-b220770a04fd

40. https://medium.com/@sharpecapital/sharpe-capital-investment-platform-7d9a9ffcf293

41 https://github.com/sharpe-capital

42 https://www.reddit.com/r/icocrypto/comments/6vcilo/new_ico_sharpe_capital/

43 http://www.bountylord.com/index.php?id=113

The information contained in the document is for informational purposes only. The views expressed in this document are solely personal stance of the ICOrating Team, based on data from open access and information that developers provided to the team through Skype, email or other means of communication.

Our goal is to increase the transparency and reliability of the young ICO market and to minimize the risk of fraud.

We appreciate feedback with constructive comments, suggestions and ideas on how to make the analysis more comprehensive and informative.