BICO 2023 Guide
Biconomy is a multichain solution that supports the seamless development of decentralized applications (dApps), with the aim of reducing transaction complexities to simplify the onboarding of new users. Its mission is to drive the widespread adoption of web3 by enhancing the end-user experience. To achieve this, developers are empowered with advanced tools to alleviate UX complexities, enhance user engagement, and scale dApps. BICO, an ERC20 token minted on Ethereum, is the native token of the Biconomy blockchain.
In November 2022, Biconomy unveiled a versatile software development kit (SDK) to enable developers to effortlessly customise Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and modular solutions. This brings blockchain-agnostic, web2-like experiences to dApps. Integrating with Biconomy’s SDK is a swift process, through its non-custodial and gas-efficient relayer infrastructure network. This advancement in innovation via Biconomy’s SDK presents several benefits:
Cross-chain transaction bundling
Utilising the Biconomy blockchain’s network of Validators and Executors, the protocol offers cross-chain asset transfers where users can instantly transfer assets across different chains, and a variety of cross-chain use cases, where multi-chain dApps can interact and communicate with smart contracts on multiple chains, without having to move to that chain.
In essence, users and dApp developers can enjoy seamless, intuitive, and efficient one-click in-dApp experiences, instead of having to go through manual steps to use assets and engage with dApps between chains.
Batching transactions in a dApp allows the execution of multiple cross-chain interactions in a single transaction, such as both deposit and approval in the same transaction.
Greater control over gas fees
With conditional gasless, developers can specify which users are eligible for gasless transactions and which ones are not based on preset conditions such as NFT or Token Whitelisting. This presents an option for dApp owners to sponsor gas fees for certain users. For instance, staking platforms could offer gasless transactions for specific users who hold a minimum amount of a token to incentivise them to stake to improve user retention and improve user onboarding through painless dApp usage.
These key benefits facilitate the seamless onboarding of web2 users and mirror web2 transactions for ease of use. Through its continual advancements in innovations, Biconomy remains dedicated to shaping an accessible and user-centric decentralized digital ecosystem.
Plug-and-play modular solutions
The concept here draws a parallel with modular design, where individual components or “modules” can be added or removed based on the user’s requirements.
Instead of building functionalities from scratch, developers have access to a vast library of programmable modules through Biconomy’s Smart Accounts platform. The platform is akin to a toolbox for developers. Each module represents a specific functionality or feature. By choosing different combinations of modules, developers can customize the user experience (UX) to fit specific needs. As the variety of modules grows, the potential ways to customize and enhance the user experience expand exponentially.
Background of $BICO
In July 2021, Biconomy raised $9 million through a funding round, with Mechanism Capital leading the initiative, prior to the token launch in December 2021. Notable investors participating in this round included Coinbase Ventures, Huobi Innovation Labs, CoinFund, among other cryptocurrency investment firms.
Following this, Biconomy successfully conducted a public sale of its native token BICO in October 2021 on CoinList, raising an additional $11.5 million. This sale brought in 12,000 new token holders, with the event drawing interest from over 860,000 registrants.
Since stepping into the industry, Biconomy has assisted over 300 dApps in reducing gas fees and has facilitated the processing of more than 41 million transactions. Reputable users such as AAVE and Curve Finance are a testament to its use case.
The core team comprises of 3 co-founders, CEO Ahmed Al-Balaghi, COO Aniket Jindal, and CTO Sachin Tomar.
The CEO has over 3 years of experience within the blockchain industry and previously headed up the Middle Eastern expansion for leading Chinese blockchain company Viewfin. While studying Mandarin at Fudan University for two years, he was the co-founder and President of the Fudan Blockchain Association and was the FinTech Lead for an entrepreneurship project in Shanghai with a team of UK-China entrepreneurs and the British Government. Ahmed has also worked in institutions such as Citibank, Dow Jones, and Ofgem.
$BICO Tokenomics
The 1 billion fixed supply of BICO tokens is allocated as follows:
| Allocation | % |
|---|---|
| Community | 38.62% |
| Team & Advisors | 22% |
| Token Sales | 23.38% |
| Treasury | 10% |
| Early Supporters | 6% |
$BICO Prices
The live $BICO price today is $0.278873 USD at the time of this article (28 September 2023), with a 24-hour trading volume of $26,847,173 USD and a live market cap of $183,391,892 USD. It has a circulating supply of 657,617,262 BICO coins and a maximum supply of 1 billion. The highest price paid for $BICO is $21.87 USD, which was recorded in December 2021. Comparatively, the current price of $0.275 USD is a 98.72% decrease from the all-time high.
Use Cases of $BICO
$BICO, the native token of the Biconomy blockchain, plays several crucial roles in the ecosystem, including securing the network, enabling community governance and incentivizing stakeholders.
Utility
The Biconomy blockchain serves as the foundation for settling and verifying all network activities across supported chains, with BICO utilized for paying network fees. Node operators transact in BICO to add information on-chain and receive BICO in relation to the work conducted on the network.
Stakeholder Incentives
The network allocates BICO as incentives to essential stakeholders such as holders, stakers, developers, liquidity providers, and node operators, all integral for maintaining seamless blockchain operations.
Two distinct roles manage the Biconomy multi-chain relayer infrastructure, “Executors” and “Validators”. Both are part of a decentralised group of node operators. These node operators stake their BICO tokens to participate and in return, earn rewards based on their contribution.
If these node operators work productively, they receive $BICO as a reward. Any misconduct results in a reduction of their staked $BICO. Such incentives ensure the network runs efficiently, creating a verification loop between participants and nodes.
Executors operate the relayer nodes, handling meta-transactions on the designated blockchain. Validators on the Biconomy blockchain use a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus to verify all transactions made by the Executors. Once a transaction by an Executor is confirmed on the Biconomy blockchain, they are rewarded.
Meta-transactions allow an intermediary, known as a relayer, to carry out a transaction on a user’s behalf. All the user needs to do is to sign a message confirming their intended transaction. The relayer then processes this on the chosen blockchain and even covers the gas fees, to ensure successful transactions. This system means users enjoy a simplified interaction with the blockchain, as they aren’t required to have native tokens or pay gas fees.
A decentralised network of node operators, functioning as Validators and Executors of the Biconomy multi-chain relayer infrastructure, stake BICO to contribute and earn rewards proportionate to their contribution to the network.
The network rewards productive work with $BICO, while bad behaviour is punished by slashing a portion of the node operator’s staked $BICO. The smooth operation of the network is maintained through these incentive mechanisms, which ensures a fine balance where there is a verification loop between actors and nodes.
Executors run the relayer nodes and are responsible for executing the meta transactions on the respective blockchain. On the other hand, all the executor’s transactions are verified by Validators on the Biconomy blockchain using Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus, which helps to secure the network. Executors will be rewarded once their transaction gets included in the Biconomy blockchain.
Delegators, on the other hand, stake $BICO tokens by delegating them to top-performing node operators who agree to a mutual sharing of network fees and rewards, to enhance network security.
Liquidity Provision
Both $BICO stakers and node operators actively participate in contributing towards a resilient ecosystem, earning network fees and rewards, and contributing to reinforcing network security. Due to the risk involved with cross-chain transfers, stakers earn protocol incentives in the form of BICO tokens in exchange for securing the protocol.
The protocol requires active liquidity across diverse tokens on all supported blockchains, with liquidity providers supplying various crypto assets to the protocol’s pools on different chains. In return, they earn a small fee and BICO relative to their contribution to the liquidity pools.
Governance Participation
BICO holders are empowered to propose and vote on decisions impacting Biconomy’s protocol and the broader network. This includes considerations such as alterations to the Network’s code, introducing additional services, or decisions about treasury fund disbursement. Any BICO holder is eligible to submit a proposal, marking a significant step in Biconomy’s journey towards community-driven development and self-sustainability.
How to Start Trading $BICO
To trade $BICO on Flipster:
- Download the Flipster app and complete the account set-up process
- Go to [Trade]
- Click on [Search] at the top of the page and type in $BICO
- Click on $BICO
- In the [Amount] field, type in the amount of $BICO you wish to buy or sell. Alternatively, you can select the percentages below to choose how much of your available cash you want to use for your order
- Click [Preview order]
- Once you have confirmed the details, click on [Buy $BICO – Long] button to open a long position or [Sell $BICO – Short] if you are opening a short position.
Login and trade now.
Disclaimer: This material is for information purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Flipster makes no recommendations or guarantees in respect of any digital asset, product, or service. Trading digital assets and digital asset derivatives comes with significant risk of loss due to its high price volatility, and is not suitable for all investors.