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It’s March 16, 2018 and the broader cryptocurrency market has taken a hit after the wild bull run seen in late 2017. Now could be a good time to pick up some cryptocurrency on the cheap or get in on initial coin offerings (ICOs) while interest in cryptocurrencies is lower as you won’t be competing with as many people to get your hands on some new coins.
One upcoming ICO that has caught our eye is the start-up CryptoFlix ICO. CryptoFlix is the name of the company behind a platform offering blockchain-powered TV and movie streaming, film funding and other associated products and services. According to CryptoFlix, they are “the first media company on the Blockchain to exploit this huge void in the paid content market, which is only achievable by circumventing the normal payment options and using digital currency.”
By harnessing blockchain technology, CryptoFlix wants to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar media industry (TV, film, and online learning). With the development of new blockchain-based technologies for media, the CryptoFlix team wants to make it both simple and inexpensive to legally stream movies and other content, fund film projects and more.
CryptoFlix’s target market (at least initially) is developing markets and along with services like media streaming and funding for film projects, they plan to offer free, online educational content for anyone in the world, even those in developing countries with less money, to educate themselves through various means and potentially better their personal situation.
By using a digital currency, CryptoFlix can bypass barriers to things like online content streaming and film project funding since many people in developing nations don’t have access to credit (credit cards are often used for content streaming and credit is often used to film large film projects).
While this sounds all good and dandy, if you’re confused as to how this is all going to work, we’re about to get into the nitty-gritty and explain why you should consider investing in FLIX, Cryptoflix’s native, Ethereum-based, ERC-223 token.
How CryptoFlix Works
Streaming Platform
The CryptoFlix project will begin with the launch of the main CryptoFlix streaming platform. All parts of the CryptoFlix ecosystem such as the film marketplace will be linked to the streaming platform.
The streaming platform will offer both free and paid content. Free content would include educational content mentioned like documentaries, movies and TV, allowing people access regardless of socio-economic status. Paid content is traditional paid media such as movies and TV series.
Users will be able to stream paid content using multiple cryptocurrencies, which will all be stored in a digital wallet. However, if users pay for streaming with FLIX tokens, they will receive a discount.
While content on the platform will include your typical major hits from Hollywood and so on, CryptoFlix will try to offer large amounts of content from developing markets in accordance with its mission of focusing on the developing world.
The free content will be available to individuals for personal use but CryptoFlix plans to offer the same content to institutional users such as educational establishments like schools and libraries by offering a prepaid monthly subscription.
CryptoFlix’s streaming platform is set to launch by the end of 2018.
The team has made a proof-of-concept of the streaming platform available at platform.cryptoflix.io. While the proof-of-concept is not fully functional, it is an example of what the finished product may look like with user signups and access to some content like trailers, short educational films and more.
Film Marketplace
The Film Marketplace is another planned component of the CryptoFlix ecosystem. The marketplace aims to help film industry members such as producers, distributors and others receive financing for their film projects.
Holders of FLIX will be able to invest in promising film projects and in return, potentially receive a return on their investment(s).
To aid investors, CryptoFlix will analyze projects and provide users with risk scores to better guide investment decisions. The scores will take the following factors into account:
- The genre, market and estimated income for the film
- The part of the film value chain that investments would apply to
- The team behind the project
- Estimated time from production to market
- Any noteworthy elements such as star actors, an interesting theme and so on
Returns and conditions for projects will be offered to film marketplace investors in a term sheet. In the current crypto environment where investments can often be more or less a shot in the dark, the CryptoFlix film marketplace provides a promising framework for educated investing decisions.
Along with risk scores and term sheets, the marketplace will also have an automatic match feature that will match up projects and investors (how this will work is yet to be defined). Accounting will also make use of blockchain technology so that investors can see where their money is going on a public ledger.
CryptoFlix’s Film Marketplace set to launch during the beginning of 2019.
Charitable Trust
To support its educational mission, CryptoFlix will set up a regulatory and tax-compliant charitable trust that will enable media companies and other content producers to donate content for educational purposes to the CryptoFlix platform for free streaming purposes.
Depending on where content owners who donate are located and the type of business that they run, donors will be eligible for tax deductions. Meanwhile, the trust will receive an annually fixed share of any profits generated by donated content, which will enable the trust to support free online content production and free streaming on its platform.
The company plans to set up the charitable trust before Q1 2019.
eBook Distribution Platform
While this part of the CryptoFlix ecosystem is not planned and is merely being considered as a possibility to further expand the reach of the CryptoFlix business, CryptoFlix might introduce an eBook distribution platform, as the eBook industry in many developing countries is underdeveloped.
The platform would offer both free and paid eBooks. The free content would contribute to CryptoFlix’s mission to provide educational opportunities for everyone while the paid eBooks would serve as an additional revenue stream for the company.
Production Company
As we’ll get into later, the CryptoFlix team has a strong background in film production, even winning an Oscar for their efforts.
If the CryptoFlix project takes off, the team will consider producing their own movies, TV, documentaries and more the same way that companies like Netflix have produced content such as the popular TV series Narcos. Such content would be promoted not just within the CryptoFlix ecosystem but outside of it as well, through mediums like TV, cinema, film festivals and more.
Team
Something that really sets CryptoFlix apart from other projects is its all-star team that has a solid background in media.
For example, Co-Founder and CEO Christian Falkenberg Husum is a veteran of the film industry with roles ranging from sales agent to lawyer to producer. Perhaps his biggest achievement in the industry is co-producing the 2015 Polish film, Ida, which won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film – the first Polish film to win such an honor.
Industry pundits have even gone as far as naming Ida #55 on the list of the 21st century’s 100 greatest films! Impressive, indeed.
The other Co-Founder and COO, Stefan Steen Larsen, is a digital rights expert who has also worked on Ida with Husum and has extensive experience in the industry not just in production but sales and portfolio management with a focus on digital rights exploitation too.
CryptoFlix’s advisors include the likes of Peter Rommel, who worked on the Academy Award-nominated, Icelandic film Children of Nature and founded Berlin-based Rommel Film, which has been responsible for films, such as Nachtgestalten (Night Shapes), Movie Days, Sweety Barrett and Devil’s Island.
Rommel was also a senior lecturer at the Deutsche Film und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) (German Film and TV Academy) and received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2017 Max-Ophüls-Preis Festival.
The company’s all-star advisory board doesn’t stop there. Another of CryptoFlix’s advisors is Edward Arentz who founded New York City-based distribution label, Greenwich Entertainment which has contributed to the generation of more than $70 million in box office revenue.
Over the span of his 17-year career in film distribution, Arentz has received 8 Oscar nominations for his work. Through Music Box Films, which he co-founded and where he served as managing director, he acquired and released international hits such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Oscar-nominated A Man Called Ove and Ida.
The CryptoFlex team is also comprised of a Marketing Manager, Gabriela Y. Rios; Full Stack Developer, Bastian Noreen Larsen; Blockchain Developer, George Thomas; Educational Content Ambassador, Francisco Javier Pérez Rodríguez; Strategic Advisor (Asia), Manmeet Singh; and several other qualified team members.
When we first saw the CryptoFlix project, we were skeptical as the team is more or less looking to take on established platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Video, HBO Go and more. However, with such a strong team, we’re optimistic and excited to see where the project goes.
Token Economics
Of course, even if CryptoFlix is really successful, investing in the project by buying some FLIX tokens will be pointless if there is no use for the actual tokens. Luckily for FLIX token holders, there are some factors that suggest that the price of the token will go up.
Funding Cap
The CryptoFlix ICO has a funding hard cap or limit of 25,000 Ethereum. At the current Ethereum price of $600 (March 16, 2018), the ICO is capped at a funding limit of $15 million, giving FLIX’s market capitalization a lot of room for growth ($15 million wouldn’t even put the project in the top 300 of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization as of March 16, 2018). The soft cap is set at 3,000 ETH.
Incentivizing FLIX Usage / Increased FLIX Demand
If CryptoFlix becomes popular, demand for FLIX will go up, especially if CryptoFlix offers discounts on payments for paid content using FLIX as promised. Given that the supply of FLIX is fixed at 100 million, this would all lead to a higher FLIX price (fixed supply and increased demand leads to less supply, all of which leads to a higher price).
Low Starting Price
Although the current price of a cryptocurrency is not 100% indicative of potential price growth (for example, Bitcoin went from about $1,000 to $20,000 in 2017), many perceive cryptocurrencies with low prices as having more room for growth.
The ICO will offer 1 FLIX per 0.0004 ETH contributed. At today’s prices, that puts the ICO price of FLIX at 24 cents, which might entice potential investors.
Low Potential of Pump and Dump by Team
Another important token metric in ICOs is the portion of tokens allocated to the team and whether or not they are allowed to sell them right away.
The CryptoFlix team will only receive 18% of the 100 million FLIX tokens available. Moreover, their share of FLIX will be vested for 12 months with a 3-month cliff. This means that the team will not be able to sell any of their FLIX until 3 months after the ICO.
Furthermore, the FLIX won’t be distributed to the team all at once after 3 months but gradually over a 12-month period after the ICO. This reduces the chance that the team will just dump all their tokens after the ICO, which would make FLIX’s price plummet.
Conclusion
All things considered, CryptoFlix definitely seems promising and not an outright scam like 99% of ICOs.
However, while the premise is interesting and the team has an actual record of producing significant results, the proof of concept is far from a finished product, and it isn’t exactly easy building an international content streaming service from scratch.
For some perspective, Netflix was founded in 1997, started streaming services in 2007 and only got into film production in 2013, 16 years after being the company was founded.
Regardless, with a low minimum contribution of 0.1 ETH ($60 as of March 16, 2018), we think that putting some money into FLIX isn’t a bad idea.
*Besides, in 1997 when Netflix was founded, no one thought that Blockbuster would fold 13 years later (wink).
CryptoFlix’s ICO is set for April 15, 2018. Sign up for updates at their site.
* Please note that this article is not financial advice of any kind and merely for informational purposes. You should consult with the appropriate professional before deciding to invest any money in CryptoFlix’s ICO.