CryptoDiffer found Ferrum Network as a prominent project in early June 2018 (5 June 2018 https://t.me/cryptodiffer/278) and put it on the radar. Now it’s not a “Stealth Mode” project anymore and we can take a look at it more deeply.

Ferrum Network aims to solve actual problems for cryptocurrency usage in real-world finance applications. The project has already launched its MVP (Kudi Exchange in beta testing) and a private testnet. 

The team is solid and experienced enough to deliver products according to their plans. The team consists of good developers with years of experience. Moreover, team and advisors have relations to the blockchain sphere that give them the competitive advantage of the understanding the industry and what it needs.

For the tokenomics part, we can only highlight an extremely low hardcap at this point of time but this info is still yet to be public. We think that tokenomics, with all vesting/lock-up terms, token prices for seed/private round, is reasonable and well-thought.

Ferrum Network has several notable strategy partnerships (KOSMOS, TLG Ventures, Token Research Group, Gemini and Rivetz) that will help the project both with industry insights and product development. But we would like to see more real-world partners of the project.

Still, there is a lack of publicly available information about the project, recent changes in the strategy, updates etc. We will update the review and grade as new information will be announced.

Despite being a high tech, interoperable, DAG based project, Ferrum chooses to focus on the peer to peer digital cash aspect of DLT technology that many today still view as “Satoshi’s Vision”. As a result, the project faces a large amount of competition from an endless list of projects that are already operating in the same sector. However, by choosing to launch their products in West Africa, the team will be able to tap into a vast market that is already highly interested in cryptocurrencies and blockchain solutions.

This is a major plus, and the Kudi Exchange is already live with over 400 pilot users, and the team have announced plans to roll out Kudi Business which allows merchants to use the mobile app as a point of sale and payroll system. Furthermore, a partnership with Gemini which allows the provision of a US Dollar stablecoin in the form of GUSD, and a link up with Flutterwave, one of the region’s leading payments processors add to the validity of the project and hint at the possibility of future success.

In addition, the core team relies on a strong academic foundation, and a number of team members have experience of working in machine learning, distributed systems, and computer engineering. Furthermore, they also retain key experience of working for various industry leaders with team members having worked for Microsoft, Amazon, Bloomberg, Morgan Stanley, and State Street.

However, this leads into potential problem areas for Ferrum, the team is quite small with a number still dedicating time to other roles which could lead to a natural lag in achieving results, and the team’s burn rate will have to be taken into consideration given the possibility that they may announce a low hard cap amount. Also, with regards to potential crowdsale participants, there may be concerns with just how the network will attract and retain value, and how the FRM token will appreciate over time.

The team have addressed the issues surrounding network value by announcing that they will maintain a reserve worth $880,000 with these tokens remaining locked for a year. Furthermore, both economic and technical staking will be made available across the network, and will work in conjunction with economic burning, or the repurchasing and burning of tokens. These will take place alongside the technical burns which accompany each transaction, and make holding the FRM token appear more attractive.

Private sale and team tokens are also subject to lockups ranging from 30 days to two years and the team are also offering to reimburse private sale participants with 75% of their investment should they fail to raise $250,000. The smaller nature of the project means that Ferrum will have to operate as a “lean start-up” and work sensibly to achieve results and get ahead of its centralized and decentralized competition. As ever, much will depend on the team’s ability to launch their mainnet and generate a user base for their Kudi Exchange. Ferrum is one to watch, and interested parties should keep an eye on any announcements the team make with regards to their hard cap, and staking/burning features.