A unique and promising ICO in December. December 5th marks the start of an ICO by Ntok.io – a global decentralized learning ecosystem based on the interaction of tutors and students through an online platform using smart contracts.
The distinguishing feature of Ntok.io is that the platform makes it easy to move from the offline world, where the student must not only agree with the tutor on the lesson but also visit them in a specific place at a specific time, to an online platform without intermediaries. In other words, students can find a tutor in any subject with literally a couple of clicks and can take lessons from them at any time and in any place, with no geographical restrictions, time zones, or travel time to worry about.
“Our advantages include reliable teacher ratings built on blockchain. Thanks to this, students can be confident that there’s no option tutors’ ratings would be a fake. It is a qualitative increase in the level of trust and reliability of the service, which means a powerful competitive advantage over other online schools,” says Maxim Shekhovtsov, CFO and co-founder of Ntok.io. “It’s vital that we work without middlemen. In traditional schools a teacher receives perhaps $7 out of $20 payed per lesson, while a school keeps the rest. We paved a way to step higher efficiency: we don’t rent a classroom space, our platform has no sales managers, administrators, etc. That’s why we’re good with taking only a tiny commission, while students save money.”
The main means of payment and obtaining advantages in the platform will be NTOK tokens – all lesson payments will be made in these tokens exclusively. The cost of services on the platform will be set by the participants themselves, and thus, when the exchange rate for tokens rises, prices denominated in tokens will fall, but in fiat terms they will remain at the market level.
“We will make it possible pay in fiat money, because we realize that this may be necessary in a conservative community of students and teachers,” explains Mr. Shekhovtsov. “However, we will charge a small premium of 10% for doing so, but at the same time we will provide all participants with instructions on how to buy our tokens and avoid paying this premium.”
In addition to paying for the study sessions themselves, holders of NTOK tokens will also be able to use them to purchase additional educational content and equipment from the Ntok.io partners. Special privileges will also be available for holders of a large balance of tokens. For example, teachers will be able to additionally move up in the search results and gain a larger number of students, while students will have an opportunity to receive a 50% discount on the company’s commission and thus save a dollar on each lesson.
It is on the fixed commission that the project plans to make money: it will be only $2 per lesson in NTOK tokens. Part of the tokens will go to the platform’s operating costs, while the remainder of the commission will “burn up”.
The Pre-Sale of NTOK tokens start December 5th, with special terms for bulk purchasers, the entry threshold will be $25,000 and up. Purchasers will receive a 50% bonus. From January 15th, 2018 the ICO will proceed with no entry threshold. The ICO will then continue on until February 15, 2018. Market experts forecast that something on the order of $15 million will be collected during the ICO.
Ntok.io is not the only player in the field of online education; such platforms as Duolingo, Varsity Tutors and iTutorGroup operate along with it. However, the founders of Ntok.io say that their key competitor is in fact the offline market, where 95% of all teachers and tutors are currently concentrated. Ntok.io wants to fundamentally alter the existing situation and stimulate a mass migration of teachers and students to working online. Experts estimate that in the next few years the online segment of the tutor’s market will grow to account for at least 70% of the market.
To make these plans a reality, Ntok.io has the most important advantage: a very strong team, with enormous experience not just in the EdTech field (for example, the launch of the Tutor Ninja online school to study English online, which is successfully operating and developing), but also online-retail, media, iOT, artificial intelligence and robot technology. The core Ntok.io team includes Andrew Kravets (CEO and co-founder), Maxim Shekhovtsov (CFO and co-founder), Natalya Asenova (Director of Marketing and Sales), and Alexey Borisov (CTO). In addition, Ntok.io has brought together a no less stellar team of consultants from among the managers of major international companies, ICOBox advisors and leading representatives of the crypto-community, experienced entrepreneurs, and founders of major Internet services such as Auto.ru, HH.ru, and KinoPoisk.