IrishCoin – A Review of Ireland’s own Crypto

There are a huge number of Cryptos on the market at present, each with a different use case and plan to revolutionize payments. One with a slightly different goal is IrishCoin. This coin was launched in May 2014 in Ireland.

It was designed to promote the Irish tourism sector. Tourist related companies will have the ability to make payments using the coin and it is hoped that those using the coin will receive discounts to encourage its use.The goal being to keep any money spent within the Irish tourism sector.

This is an admirable goal, very different to most other coins out there whose immediate goal is world domination. However the coin is almost 4 years old, how does it rate in comparison to other Cryptos and what does the future hold?

IrishCoin Technical Spec

IrishCoin is based on LiteCoin. There are a potential 64 million coins which can be issued. 7% of the total issue is reserved for the Irish tourism sector with the rest distributed by means of sales on exchanges and drops to early adopters.

A wallet has been created by the founders which is available on the coins website. The wallet is a little old fashioned, it doesn’t have the slick user interfaces present in most major wallets now but more importantly it needs a technical update.

Every major anti-virus software program tested flagged the wallet as potentially malicious at point of download in January 2018. A problem acknowledged on the coins website. Surely this is something that should be fixed as a priority not just acknowledged?

In addition the coin itself offers no major technical advances like Monero or Stellar and doesn’t seem to have any special unique features. It is pretty much standard.

IrishCoin Use Case

Whereas most coins target global domination this coin is targeting a very small niche. In four years it has received little traction so far in the Irish tourism market despite excellent publicity when it launched.

There doesn’t appear to have been much widespread adoption of the coin nor is there a disclosed strategy for 2018.

The Irish Tourism sector in total is worth less than a third of some of the coins in the current top 10. Even if the coin took over Irish tourism its use case market cap would not make it a global giant.

However the recent focus on Cryptos may help to bring it forward again.

IrishCoin Investment Case

The coin is not listed on any major exchange. It has recently been listed on a small exchange in New Zealand. Trading volumes are tiny in comparison to other major coins and it has yet to pick up a real following. Its Reddit page had only one post as at January 2018 for example.

In recent times it has tried to push itself again on Twitter highlighting its listing on the app Cheddr for example. However this is an app with 96 followers on Facebook (Probably less than your Mom).

Still, more exchanges are to come apparently. The promotional website is seriously dated though and nowhere near as slick as most competitors.

How a coin requiring a wallet update and serious marketing will perform in the long term is unclear. Enhancements are required.

The Verdict

For now this is just another coin. No special technology, no material developments until very recently, targeting a tiny market.

It has jumped back to life in recent weeks with the Crypto boom but apart from being Irish, doesn’t really have any great distinguishing features.

It needs technical enhancement and a major marketing push to go further and achieve its original admirable goals.