Silicon Valley-based startup BitClave, which is creating a decentralized search ecosystem built on the blockchain, has collected more than $16.5m through the pre-sale of its ICO.
The BitClave token, which has a $50m target, will officially start in November. It has a fixed supply of 2 billion tokens????with half of these offered to the community as part of its crowdfunding efforts. It is accepting BTC, ETH, LTC and QTUM as payments methods according to its website. BitClave token is called CAT, for ?consumer activity token,and the service will run on the Ethereum blockchain.
Founded by CEO Alex Bessonov, BitClave is looking to be the next generation of search data privacy. Its decentralised search engine will help users find what they are looking for and compensate them for their data, making third-party advertising networks unnecessary. Instead of running a search via Google and handing a user data to advertisers, which enables them to pitch appropriate ads, the users could search via BitClave and receive payment for the data their willing to share in exchange for targeted ads.
Users can opt in to advertising through?smart contracts, which are self-executing and run directly on the blockchain, offered directly by advertisers. Once the blockchain has confirmed that a user has viewed an ad, the contract would automatically release payment to the user account.?Bessonov, who was previously chief security officer at LG Electronics, also mentors at Draper University, a Silicon Valley startup bootcamp founded by venture capitalist Tim Draper.
With funding for blockchain & cryptocurrencies expected to reach record levels in 2017, a number of blockchain-based startups have recently raised capital. Polkadot, which is looking to enable?independent blockchains to exchange information, raised more than $139m in an on-going auction style ICO. The ICO still has that has some 4.2 million, out of five million, tokens remaining. It has already raised more than 430,448 in ETH.
While Digital Asset Management, a blockchain startup founded by former JPMorgan exec Blythe Masters, closed a $40m Series B round earlier this month. The Digital Asset Platform delivers flexible infrastructure for regulated financial institutions to share processes and data securely.
Earlier this week,FinTech Global revealed that venture capital firm?Blockchain Capital?pulled in up to $59m for its fourth vehicle.?The vehicle, Blockchain Capital IV, is looking to raise up to $75m; however, it is unclear if this is a target or hardcap, according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
Copyright ? 2017 FinTech Global
