In 2019, an estimated 2.7 billion identity records have been posted for sale online
Just the other day I found myself in a predicament over an item I was selling online. It was a bicycle that I had not touched for years, so I figured it was better off in the hands of someone who had the time to go for a ride.
I only had about 15 minutes to get the bike ready for sale, because the guy who spotted it online jumped on it quickly and wanted to take it off my hands right away. After all, it was quite a bargain. Just $25 for a bike that was hardly ridden, and originally cost over $150.
So, I was in the garage frantically trying to prep the bike for the sale. It was covered in dust and both tires were flat, and the guy was on his way. I washed off the bike and tried to pump up the tires, but they wouldn’t hold air. On top of that, the back tire was wobbly. I grabbed a hammer and tried to straighten the back tire, but by the time I had made any progress on it, my customer showed up at the front door.
“Well, this might be a problem.” I recall thinking to myself.
Ultimately, honesty was the best policy. I explained to the guy that the bike had seen better days, that both tires were flat, and the back tire needed some extra attention. He still accepted the bike, but offered $20 instead of $25. No problem. I was happy to get it off my hands and in better care.
It’s interesting how that experience is comparable to what is going on with the Internet as we know it. It’s time to face the hard fact that much of the Internet as it relates to privacy is broken. And there aren’t enough companies trying to grab that hammer and fix the issues before taking it to the public. They would rather just rush a product and satisfy their investors before making sure it has airtight online security.
Here at Axel, we have a very hard working group of ‘Internet mechanics’ if you will, in a race against time to try and fix what has become a broken platform. What happened with the credit card breach a few years ago in South Korea, with Equifax, with Yahool are just a few reasons why Axel exists. We are trying to become the ultimate solution to what is likely one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. How do you ensure privacy online in an age when privacy is tossed out of the window?
We decided that the answer to that question, is to build an entirely new Internet. Sometimes in life, you just have to acknowledge that some things are beyond repair. And we’re not saying that central server computing doesn’t work. It works great, actually. But, since most of the Internet is now controlled by mega-corporations, moving forward, you simply cannot be guaranteed that your information or data is safe. If it’s not going to be compromised by a massive data breach, like credit card company breaches or Equifax, then it’s going to be monitored, analyzed, and perhaps even sold to the highest bidder. How do we feel about that at Axel?
It sucks. And we won’t stand for it. Ever.
And that’s one of the reasons we are so thrilled about this upcoming IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) on Probit Exchange starting on August 12th. The excitement is not solely based on the fact that Axel is going to have its own token on a fast and reliable exchange. There are plenty of other projects out there that seek cheap thrills out of getting their cryptocurrency on an exchange, just for the sake of seeing how much of it will sell. That’s not us.
No, we have a more idealistic and long-term approach to our strategy of launching an IEO. Simply put, we want Axel Token to be in the hands of people who actually plan to use it, as part of the next generation of Internet.
It’s great to have a token that actually serves a purpose. And that’s the benefit Axel has of being an already existing technology company that is now applying the token to real products, and patented technology. There are too many cryptocurrency projects out there that rush to create their token first, before putting together a product to back it up. That’s where you hear the term ‘real use-case’ a lot. Successful crypto projects typically not only have a use-case, but also a solid team, clear vision, transparency, and real products.
It’s important to note that Axel Token is already being put to use as we speak. Our customers are using it to pin their digital files to our IPFS Pinning Facility, which is essentially one of the major building blocks of what you could say is our independent Internet. Axel Network is powered by our own blockchain, and with Axel IPFS, our users can truly experience the joy of decentralization online. You don’t need Google on our platform. We have our own search engine. You don’t need to worry about your emails being hacked or monitored. With the Axel app, you can share digital files to anyone, without worrying about size limits, and totally out of reach from third-parties. When is the last time you sent an email on Yahoo, and not had a relevant advertisement pop up the next day in response to the subject of your email? It happens daily to everyone. The content in your emails is being monitored. What you browse online is being monitored. Your chats and text exchanges are being monitored. Maybe not always by real people, but bots, that track keywords and then send that data to third-parties to hit you with targeted advertising, and also, build their own profile about you that you will never see.
If the Internet was a bicycle, *both* tires would be wobbly. It’s getting to the point where it’s just not safe to ride.
Are we excited about the upcoming IEO? No question! Because this is just one step we are taking to offer up the vision that our founders came up with over a decade ago.
Ultimately, you will see Axel token applied in many of our future products, including Axel Exchange, which is going to be a place for content creators to take back complete control of their data. Photographers, video bloggers, musicians, and ordinary consumers will be able to monetize their digital content using Axel token, and they will be using a completely decentralized platform to do it. That means, they will be able to make their own rules as they go along. Want to sell your album for $50 and keep over 90 percent of the revenue? Fine! Go for it! You won’t need to involve yourself with greedy record companies anymore. Interested in selling your amateur photographs of Gyeongbokgung Palaceor The Las Vegas Stripfor $10 each on Axel Exchange? Wonderful! Want to stream a video to your followers without worrying about the forced pop-up ads they will be exposed to on other platforms? You got it! There is something very empowering about handing back control over digital content, because it is long overdue.
From our vantage point, Internet users are speaking loud and clear about the direction they want to take. Considering the fact that we saw over 10-thousand files pinned on our platform in a matter of days, just shows the demand is there.
And those individuals are continuing to post their content, and share across the world, using only a fraction of Axel token for each IPFS pin. One Axel token goes a long way for our users, and we couldn’t be more excited to see the pinning grow.
The Axel customer base has made it clear that they are in full support of riding a new bicycle. Because really, who wants to travel down the road with a wobbly tire?
