Letter from Max
Dear ICNQ Holders,
When we started Iconiq Lab in 2017 ICOs were on the rise but there was no one doing proper due diligence on them and protecting potential investors. So, we reviewed more than 1,500 startups and only a few of them made it into our accelerator program. We financed that by raising equity in 2017 and shortly after we did a private token sale: ICNQ was born, a token that allows everyone to invest alongside us on a pro rata basis into our pre-vetted tokens – a decentralized venture capital club. A great idea but crypto winter came and ICOs were dead. To survive we had to pivot and decided to become a crypto asset manager in 2019. But what about ICNQ? The club membership didn’t make sense anymore, what could we do if we don’t want to let it die? So we decided to integrate it into our products. Unfortunately, we didn’t scale quickly enough, we wanted to reach €100m AUM very quickly but we didn’t achieve it. Long term, asset management is a race to the bottom in costs and even if we reach higher AUMs, the respective fees wouldn’t be high enough to benefit ICNQ. But that’s just the view on ICNQ as a large token holder (I own most of the tokens).
But with MiCA coming, maintaining ICNQ will not be feasible because utility tokens (which ICNQ is) will be heavily regulated and will have to have a proper prospectus and a lot of other administrative and transparency requirements that need a lot of time, money and lawyers involved. As an entity with regulated financial products and MiCA coming, there is no future for ICNQ as it was originally intended and structured (and mentioned in our original T&Cs). Of course we could just leave it there with zero liquidity and a price of 1-3 ct but that wouldn’t be fair. We could also just kill it (because it is a utility token), but that wouldn’t be fair either. And believe me, I’m the one addressing the issue fairly and in a reasonable manner and I’m also the one who’s been looking for solutions for months. It has been a back and forth with lawyers and even though I was advised to just let it go, I refused it and here is my personal offer to you:
· Everyone with <10,000 ICNQ gets 10ct/token (EUR) in Ether sent directly (sent from my wallet)
· Everyone with >=10,000 ICNQ gets 10ct/token (EUR) in virtual equity in the DDA Holding company (from me personally)
· Additionally, everyone with >=100,000 ICNQ (as of July 12th 2023) is still considered an ICON and can invest at a 50% discount in fees into our QS products if he wishes to.
· Only people who bought the token are included, company and team token don’t qualify obviously.
Given the fact that ICNQ never had real volume and liquidity and given the fact that it traded between 3 and 7 ct (USD) in 2023, I think this is very fair: 10 ct (EUR) = 11 ct (USD).
It’s been a long ride with you guys and I’m thankful for this community. I wish we could fly back to 2017 and invest into ICOs together with you as a decentralized venture capital group. Many thanks for your patience and keep hodling!
Best,
Max
ICNQ Buyback program:
A buyback program for the ICNQ token is being established. Anyone who would like to be considered for the program needs to fill in the registration form linked below before August 16th 2023.
The Buyback Program
- Holders of up to 10,000 ICNQ tokens have the option of a buyback at the price of 0,10EUR per token. Paid out in ETH.
- Holders of over 10,000 ICNQ tokens will have the option of a buyback in a form of VSOP agreement of Deutsche Digital Assets GmbH at the price of 0,10EUR per token.
- Please note that these are not interchangeable and anyone with less than 10,000 ICNQ tokens can only submit for a buyback in ETH and anyone holding over 10,000 ICNQ tokens can only submit for a buyback in terms of VSOP agreement of Deutsche Digital Assets GmbH.
- Additionally, everyone with >=100,000 ICNQ ( as of July 12th 2023) is still considered an ICON and can invest at a 50% discount in fees into our QS products if you wish to.
- Only people who bought the token are included, company and team token don’t qualify obviously.
- Only people who have registered via the official form until the 16th of August, have agreed to the terms and conditions of the buyback program sent per email and meet the program requirements will be considered for the buyback program.
Process & Terms
- All terms and conditions of the buyback procedure will be provided per email before the buyback takes place. The token address to send ICNQ tokens to will be confirmed per email and on the website as well as pinned to the official telegram channel. Please note that we will never contact you directly regarding this over telegram or other platforms outside of direct email. Please always verify the address with the one provided on the website.
- Only people who have registered via the official form until the 16th of August, have agreed to the terms and conditions of the buyback program sent per email and meet the program requirements will be considered for the buyback program.
- In case of any other questions or concerns you can reach out to us via the contact form on the website.