ICO Review: Current Media (CRNC) Blockchain-Based Multimedia Ecosystem February 6, 2018
PROJECT OVERVIEW What is Current Media? Current is a mobile app that consolidates several multimedia networks into one application, allowing users to enjoy the content of different networks in one app. Users are able to search and link external accounts all at the same place, and make playlists and channels for specific artists, genres, or other interests. Users are also able to record radio and videos to play offline, which is generally unavailable without a premium subscription on other applications. 2
PROJECT OVERVIEW The Current ecosystem Current is now creating a digital token and protocol that is a method of exchange for time, attention and data. Starting with media, it is creating an all-inone experience that rewards users for streaming from different networks (e.g. Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc.). THE CURRENT ECOSYSTEM The Current protocol aligns the interests of all stakeholders in the media consumption cycle to create network effects that drive adoption. 3
PROJECT OVERVIEW Benefits Who Benefits Why They Care Partner Networks Consumer Creator Curator Retain ad revenue & user data for content played within Current, conversion funnel for premium services Centralizes the best content & features from each network. Provides token reward incentives for both free & premium users based on consumption Rewarded for their content on partner networks & within Current Rewarded for playlist curation from multiple content networks that enhance platform recommendations Increase bottom line, Current will subsidize premium memberships to services Convenience, get rewarded for completing a daily habit, free or discounted premium subscriptions Additional source of income, global reach, & control over distribution and pricing Additional source of income (they rarely get compensated anywhere else) Source: Current Business Deck 4
PROJECT OVERVIEW Competition Source: Current Business Deck 5
PROJECT OVERVIEW The Current app Current s application is already on the App Store. They claim to have over 200,000 users already, and plan to fully launch blockchain integration in Q3 2018. According to AppAnnie, Current App was released in March 2017. It has reached top 100 Apps within the App Store in 6 countries. 6
PROJECT OVERVIEW iphone screenshots 7
PROJECT OVERVIEW Development roadmap Q2 2018 Q3 2018 Q4 2018 Q1 2019 Q4 2019 Video Integrations with Netflix and Hulu Launch Offline Video Recording Launch Blockchain Attribution v1.0 (CRNC Integration) Launch Android Platform Expand Operating Systems, Launch ipad and SmartTV platforms Launch Blockchain Attribution v1.2, which allows any network to integrate with the CRNC Protocol Launch Current Ad Platform 8
TOKEN SALE OVERVIEW CRNC token sale summary ICO SUMMARY Project name: Current Media Token symbol: CRNC Website: https://current.us/ Hard cap: US$36M Conversion rate: 1 CRNC = US$0.24 Max market cap at ICO (fully diluted basis): US$103M Bonus structure: Up to 45% bonus for private sale, public presale bonus TBA Presale or white list: Public presale starts from February 7 to February 21, 2018. Sign up for presale at https://tokensale.current.us/. Whitelist for main token sale released no later than February 25, 2018. Timeline: Public presale runs February 7 21, 2018. Main sale runs March 14 April 4, 2018. These dates are subject to change. Token distribution date: Within one month of the token sale (April/May) 12% 5%3% 10% 25% 35% 5% 30% TOKEN DISTRIBUTION 35% Mining rewards Token sale Team Community growth & strategic partners Advisors Current Foundation USE OF PROCEEDS 40% R&D Marketing & platform development Operations, business & corporate development Legal & administrative 9
PROJECT OVERVIEW Use of CRNC tokens Users, Creators, and Curators are paid in CRNC tokens which can be used to pay for premium subscriptions for other services or tickets to events. USE OF CRNC TOKENS Advertisers will have to purchase CRNC tokens in order to host advertisements on the platform. 35% of token supply is reserved for users mining CRNC blocks. Users mine blocks by accruing an hour of consumption. 10
THE TEAM Who are the people behind Current Media? Dan Novaes Cofounder, CEO Co-Founded four businesses in the past, where he served as CEO (2 of which were acquired). Has written for Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur, and has 1.2+ million followers on Facebook. Kiran Panesar Cofounder, CTO Co-Founded two other businesses where he served as CTO. Two of the ios apps he s developed have hit #1 on the App Store. Built and overseen websites with tens of thousands of concurrent users and over 1 billion requests per month. Nick McEvily Cofounder, CPO 9+ years in design and studied design at Cornell. Executive Producer of Celebrity Street Fight, which had more than 300,000 active users within 5 days of launch. 11
THE TEAM Investors and advisors INVESTORS & ADVISORS 12
OUR THOUGHTS The opportunities Being rewarded monetarily for using an app should be able to attract users easily. For example, listening to ads for a couple of weeks in order to buy a premium Spotify or SoundCloud subscription may be appealing. The project is led by a strong team with a track record in developing popular mobile apps. The ability to scale the application and draw more users is probably the most critical task for the team, and the team has demonstrated success in this arena. 13
OUR THOUGHTS Our concerns The app has been in the market for almost a year and has not been able to reach a critical scale in terms of downloads and active users. The ability to attract user depend heavily on how much users will be compensated, which in turn depends on the price of CNRC tokens. If the price of CNRC token is depressed, users may not find much incentive to use Current, which would create a vicious cycle. 14
OUR THOUGHTS What do we recommend? For flipping: Neutral. The hard cap is on the high side, considering the project is an application which generally have lower valuation than protocols or platforms. We believe the project can be developed with a fraction of the hard cap. For long-term holding: Positive. The idea is solid and the project is led by a strong team who knows how to draw users. The use of token makes sense and can improve the business model of the app. Therefore, we believe the project has a good chance to succeed. 15