What Value Does Everipedia Have?
Everipedia (IQ) is a blockhain platform that calls itself “the Encyclopedia of Everything,” and an “online encyclopedia for the modern age.”
I think a better description of Everipedia is a for-profit variant of Wikipedia powered by cryptocurrency. To explain, Everipedia’s plan is to pay people who contribute and edit articles with its ERC20 (Ethereum Request for Content) cryptocurrency IQ.
The hope at Everipedia is to build a more stable and trusted alternative to Wikipedia. I think Wikipedia is a good resource, but it few people trust it.
The War on Wikipedia and its Implications for Everipedia
Sadly, I think a lot of the “distrust” in Wikipedia comes from journalists, intellectuals, academics, and others who make their living as gatekeepers of knowledge. To explain, academics and journalists justify their salaries by presenting themselves as experts with special knowledge.
Wikipedia threatens that lucrative monopoly by democratizing knowledge. Specifically, Wikipedia implies ordinary people with no fancy degrees are just as smart as intellectuals with pricey college educations. Thus, Wikipedia threatens the intellectuals’ livelihood.
Conversely, there are real problems with Wikipedia, but I think the critics exaggerate the problems. Personally, I’ve never found Wikipedia no more accurate; or less accurate, on subjects I’m familiar with, than formal news sources, or traditional encyclopedias.
Everipedia vs. Wikipedia
Indeed, I find often Wikipedia articles more comprehensive and often better written than traditional encyclopedias. However, many people disagree; which provides Everipedia a rationale for existence.
Unfortunately, Everipedia will face the same criticism as Wikipedia. The professional gatekeepers of knowledge will attack Everipiedia because it threatens their paychecks.
I predict the critics will go through Everipedia; find inaccurate information, and use those inaccuracies as a reason not to use Everipedia. Since, no database can be entirely accurate, the critics’ task will be easy.
Hence, any effort to convince Wikipedia critics to accept Everipedia will be a losing proposition. However, I think there could be a big market for an improved Wikipedia.
Everipedia could have a Vast Potential Market
To explain, there are hundreds of millions of people out there who need access to good information about an incredible variety of subjects. However, most of those people lack access to libraries, universities, databases, etc.
Examples of such individuals include, a student studying for a college degree, or a professional writer in a developing country like Ethiopia. The student or writer needs access to vast amounts of information, but she lives hundreds of miles from the nearest library.
Yet, that student; or writer, probably owns a smartphone and could own a computer. Hence, the student; or writer, in Ethiopia, could be in a position to pay for Everipedia knowledge.
Could Everipedia make Money from AI?
A more lucrative potential market for Everipedia could be artificial intelligence (AI).
To elaborate, large numbers of AI that will need information on an incredible number of topics are coming online. Those AI will need huge databases they can quickly harvest for information. I think Everipedia could be such a database.
For example, an AI writing news articles about a football match will need brief biographies of new players. The writing AI could find those biographies on Everipedia.
In addition, an AI editor fact checking a movie review will need biographical data on actors and directors. Everipedia could provide that information too. In addition, a modern movie review could reference a classic film from the 1930s. The AI could check the review’s description of the old movie against the Everipedia entry.
Could Everipedia Make Money from Fact Checking
Likewise, I think there will be a huge market for fact checking AIs. Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) could use an AI to sift through hundreds of political advertisements and articles in search of inaccuracies and falsehoods, for instance.
Fact-checking AIs will need something to compare articles to. Everipedia could provide that data for fact-checking AIs.
Additionally, Everipedia could turn its practice of human fact checkers and editors paid with cryptocurrency into a business model. For instance, Everipedia could sell fact checking services to the Associated Press or Facebook.
I think there are some people who will never trust an AI, no matter how accurate the artificial intelligence is. However, those people could trust a human fact checker.
Hence, I believe there could be a huge market for decentralized fact checking services. In my opinion, Everipedia is really a decentralized fact checking mechanism with a democratic model of governance.
Is there a Market for Everipedia?
There is some commercial interest in Everipedia. For instance, Brave; the privacy browser associated with the Basic Attention Token (BAT) is partnering with Everipedia.
Brave and Everipedia have a co-marketing agreement, a press release indicates. Under the agreement, Brave user could support Everipedia seamlessly with Brave Rewards.
To clarify, Brave Rewards are rewards points Brave users can receive for visiting specific websites. Users can redeem Brave Reward for Basic Attention Tokens (BAT) ERC20 cryptocurrency.
Hence, users can get rewarded for using Everipedia. In addition, Everipedia users could pay Everipedia or pay its contributors tips for contents they appreciate.
Under the agreement, they will feature Everipedia in the BAT Community, the BAT Community Podcast, and the Weekly BAT. Plus, articles on Brave will be featured on Everipedia’s homepage and highlighted on Everpedia’s social media.
Could Everipedia Generate Advertising Income?
Thus, I think Everipedia has the potential to generate advertising income. Interestingly, the Everipedia and BAT co-marketing agreement fits with what I call Warren Buffett’s Theory of Advertising.
To clarify, Buffett thinks many people use media primarily for the information advertising provides. In addition, Uncle Warren believes people will pay extra for some advertising information.
“I mean, it upsets the people in the newsroom to talk that way, but the ads were the most important editorial content from the standpoint of the reader,” Buffett tells Yahoo Finance. “They want to know what supermarket’s having the bargain on Coke or Pepsi this weekend and so on.”
Hence, I think Everipedia could generate vast amounts of advertising income. To explain, people need and want reliable information and many of them are willing to put up with advertising to get it.
Potential advertisers on Everipedia could include consumer products giants like Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) and Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG). Companies like P&G are searching for reliable replacements for fast dying old media such as newspapers and broadcast television.
Such advertisers have a lot of money to spend. In particular, Statista estimates Procter & Gamble could spend $6.8 billion globally on advertising in 2019.
In addition, advertising in a trusted information source can enhance a product or company’s reputation. However, accepting advertising generates obvious conflicts of interest. Yet, few people think The New York Times or The Guardian are biased in favor of advertisers.
How valuable is Everipedia?
Everipedia’s platform is partially functional. Hence it is a good time to evaluate Everipedia’s (IQ) value.
Currently, you can edit Everipedia articles via: Email, Phone number, Facebook, Twitter, Google, Kakao, Line, and the Lynx Wallet, Everipedia’s Medium claims. Hence, Everipedia is partially scalable.
The Lynx Wallet supports the EOS blockchain. Therefore, you could theoretically convert IQ to EOS (EOS). EOS is theoretically a faster and more scalable cryptocurrency than Ethereum (ETH) and ERC20 tokens.
In addition, Everipedia (IQ) is participating in Bancor’s liquidity network. To explain, the Bancor Network provides liquidity (the ability to cash out quickly) for ER20 and EOS cryptocurrencies. Specifically, Bancor lets you quickly convert IQ into stablecoins, or widely accepted cryptocurrencies like EOS (EOS) and Ethereum (ETH).
Thus you could theoretically turn Everipedia (IO) into cash by converting it into a stablecoin like Tether (USDT). Stabletcoins such as USD Coin (USDC) are popular because they pay quickly in fiat currencies, usually the US dollar.
Therefore, Everipedia has or is building the tools it will need to sell its services to real people in the real world. To clarify, a freelancer could refuse to write, curate, edit, or fact-check Everipedia articles without payment in a stablecoin.
How much is Everipedia (IQ) Worth?
Mr. Market assigns the Everipedia (IQ) cryptocurrency a little value. For instance, CoinMarketCap gave IQ a Coin Price of 0.2011₵ on 5 November 2019.
CoinMarketCap estimated IQ had a Market Capitalization of $11.258 million, and a 24-Hour Market Volume of $812,918 on the same day. Meanwhile, there was a Circulating Supply of 5.319 million IQ and a Total Supply of 10.006 million IQ.
In addition, the Bancor Network gave IQ a Coin Price of 00.2058₵, and a Liquidity Depth of $21,631 on 5 November 2019. To clarify, the Liquidity Depth is the cash value of the IQ in Bancor’s Network.
Thus, Mr. Market has a little interest in IQ but no faith in the cryptocurrency. In the final analysis, I think Everipedia is an interesting cryptocurrency with a fascinating business plan but little quantifiable value.
Thus, Mr. Market is right about Everipedia (IQ). I think investors need to stay away from IQ until Everipedia proves it can make money.