Operate your Organization with Aragon
By: Bruce Hunt
Tags: Research, Blockchain, Investing, Aragon, Cryptocurrency

The Coin

The Aragon coin is an exciting new coin built on the promise of making the world a better place. The coin has only been traded since May of this year, but already it has nearly doubled in value, meaning investors clearly see the value in it. This coin, and the creators behind it, see the financial corruption, as well as a centralized financial industry, as a major setback for most of the world, and they aim to change the way currency is stored and spent. Powered by the Ethereum blockchain, the Aragon network claims to be the first community-governed decentralized organization whose mission is to act as an online decentralized court system that isn’t bound by traditional barriers such as national jurisdictions or the borders of a single nation.

“By making it possible for everyone in the world to organize, we are enabling a borderless, permissionless and more efficient creation of value”

Users of the Aragon Network make transactions using the Aragon Network Token (ANT) to smoothly operate an organization of their design while removing unnecessary intermediaries and third parties which serve to impose restrictions and regulations, ultimately hindering the organization. They want to modernize the way organizations are run through the integration of their transparent platform. As we progress further into our digital age, the ability for organizations to operate truly independently will be necessary, and that’s what Aragon aims to provide. Currently, Aragon allows any business to integrate the blockchain into their accounting, voting and fundraising, with more features on the way.

Meet the Team

Aragon was founded Luis Cuende, a new developer who has already been listed on Forbes 30 under 30 list. He is the project lead, and has been the creator of many different technologies already, including the Stampery project, one of many blockchain data verification services. Additionally, he’s contributed to or created over 40 repositories on Github. Cuende is a huge believer in the Ethereum network, and seems to be truly working towards establishing strong, decentralized platforms. Of course, any great lead is supported by a fantastic cast, and Aragon has just that in technology developer Jorge Izquierdo. Izquierdo has made over 1,800 commits on Github in the past year, mostly within the Ethereum blockchain as well. Both head developers are very strongly invested into the Ethereum network and see it as the way to the future they desire, and with such passion behind this project, it is sure to be a success.

Notable Supporters

On the Aragon website, the list of supporters is a list any blockchain startup would dream to have. The first notable supporter is Mihai Alisie, Cofounder of the Ethereum blockchain and founder of AKASHA, a next-generation social network. He was one of the original four developers of the Ethereum network, along with cryptocurrency star Vitalik Buterin. He offers immense value to a new company aiming to use the Ethereum network for their project. Also advising the team is Coinfund cofounder Jake Brukhman. His background is in quantitative analysis with an expertise in computer science makes him a very valuable asset to the team. The team has cited him as vital to the creation of financial incentives for the Aragon network. A third major supporter is Kenny Rowe, cofounder of the Dai foundation and in charge of MakerDAO, one of the top current projects involving governance and transparency. The combination of these three supporters, along with many others, could help set Aragon apart from competitors.

Who is the Competition?

One main competitor for Aragon is the tech project BitCAD. BitCAD launched their coin on May 25th of this year, and is a unified operating system for management design and analysis of a business using blockchain technology. BitCAD offers online accounting, online banking and a customer relations management system all hosted on their platform. Like Aragon, they too believe in a decentralized global network for organizations to operate freely. Additionally, BitCAD specializes in the integration of smart contracts, as well as handling disputes internally with the transparency of the blockchain. The drawback for BitCAD is that they’ve had a very hard time getting out of the development stage and into the practical use stage. Their ICO raised $1 million in the first hour, but their coin is still not openly traded. Aragon has a stronger coin, more support, and in my opinion, much more lasting power than BitCAD.

Value

Currently, the Aragon coin is valued at $3.56 per token, up well over 100% from when it started trading in May at $1.39. The coin has shown solid growth all year, reaching a market cap of over $114 million currently. For investors, the best news is the daily trade volume, which is over $1 million per day. Approximately 32 million Aragon tokens are available out of the over 39 million total.

The Aragon token initial coin offering can be considered incredibly successful, as it lists as the fourth largest crowdfunding event in history, and the second largest in the blockchain space, raising $25 million dollars in the first in 26 minutes.

At its fastest rate, Aragon sold over $7 million dollars’ worth of their token per minute. There is clearly a lot of interest in the coin and the service overall.

The Roadmap

Aragon is well on its way to completing their roadmap, especially after such a successful first six months of operation. While they don’t list a traditional roadmap like many other projects, they do list a development plan for their project. They plan on continuing to release new products and services until at least 2019, with the end date for updating the service in 2019. Of course, they will continue to work on future developments, but the current outline of the project lasts until 2019.

My Thoughts

I think for anyone trying to start an organization or business, this platform is a must-use. It is still so young and new, and there is so much potential for growth. The success of Aragon simply cannot be ignored. As we move further into our digital age, decentralized platforms for communication will be desired more and more. At this point, Aragon is easily the best provider of that service, and I highly recommend its use. With more features on the way, it shows promise to become an industry leader soon.