Great points! For those interested, Qchain's crowdsale runs until December 21st, so act soon if you want to get in on one of the 1st major NEM platforms!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdBH_9NZUW6XEvKHB3nYAzdFMpZ1N14kA3MgZ9x-zxizdPmDQ/viewform

I believe NEM could be in for a big year in 2018. Their tech is better suited for business than ETH (as much as we all love ETH) and their superior security is going to attract serious business ventures, not just those looking to make a quick buck.

2 great examples are LoyalCoin and Qchain. LoyalCoin is looking to become a singular rewards points that all multi-national companies can use, rather than collecting many different points at many different stores. I know personally, I hate keeping track of many rewards cards in my wallet and I end up just not using them. This is a great use of blockchain technology to solve a problem and make our lives easier. You can read more about them here: https://loyalcoin.io/

Qchain is a blockchain-powered native advertising and sponsored content sales platform. They want to build a suite of open and transparent applications that provide decentralized and secure solutions for digital advertisers, in-house marketers, content publishers. The advertising industry is plagued by distrust and fraud, which makes it ripe for disruption by the transparency and trust induced by the blockchain. Read more about Qchain at: https://qchain.co/ they recently released a statement with an update from their developers here: https://medium.com/the-qchain-blog/updates-from-the-qchain-dev-team-13f0ba08caf8

2017 saw the rise of many great companies launch on Ethereum, which no doubt was related to it's epic rise over the year, but as more legit businesses start coming up on NEM, I think 2018 will be the year you want to own NEM.

And another one:  https://twitter.com/NEMofficial/status/937884377819725824

I guess they like Wally's talk

Qchain's ICO ends December 5 at 9pm GMT, so you still have a chance to get in on it! Go to qchain.co/crowdsale to participate.

Qchain’s direct buy native marketplace can disrupt the process of buying and selling advertising, and gives a central point from which native ad standards can be applied and enforced. I love the application of the blockchain to ad tech, an industry ripe for disruption. Digital advertising is part of an unruly ecosystem, weighed down by numerous inefficiencies. The direct buy native marketplace will greatly benefit publishers/content creators, advertisers, and everyday Internet users alike.

For more information, here is a recent article:  https://themerkle.com/how-qchain-plans-to-fix-native-advertising/
And here is Qchain's CEO speaking at a recent blockchain seminar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ktFtvpbuaY&feature=youtu.be

Video of Qchain CEO Wally speaking at a recent blockchain seminar!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ktFtvpbuaY&feature=youtu.be

Less than a week remaining in this awesome token sale!

From the Qchain TG:  https://imgur.com/a/yQkFk

Qchain and BitDegree I know off the top of my head. Qchain ICO is going on now. BitDegree starts in December, I believe. Both are great adaptations of blockchain technology.

From the intro paragraph:  The crowdsale will begin October 24th, 2017 and will end by December 5th, 2017.

You can find the demo at demo.qchain.co. You have to scroll down in the article passed the first paragraph to see the link + username and password.

Looks legit! This strong team keeps adding talent

As this post points out, it is legal for US corporations to hold an ICO and US citizens may participate. However, there are restrictions to both of these cases. The SEC just released a statement saying that they are going to investigate ICOs as potential securities more closely going forward. With respect to participating, it actually depends on the state in which you reside. For example, if you live in the state of New York you cannot participate in ICOs, as New York has stricter securities regulations (that's where the New York Stock Exchange is so they have unique financial laws).

You're looking for signals of long-term commitment to solving a real problem. You also want to see a proper application of the blockchain. If you ask "why is this on the blockchain?" and the answer seems like a cloud of smoke, then it's a sh*tcoin.

Like others have said, a working demo, or better a working product, should be a per-requisite.

I'm thinking about diving in on NEM soon. 2018 could be a big year for it.

Yea idk if I'd declare the king yet... If you're up on it, I'd make like Steve Miller and take the money and run.

Segwit2X is like a bad dream. I want it to be over so I can forget about it.

Gotta love Qchain. They're the only one of these three that build on NEM! Since NEM is clearly the future of crypto-biz. The Utrust project is also quite interesting tho.

That's right, I forgot to mention the catapult announcement! This is an awesome time to invest in NEM projects!

Given my name, I am quite interested in and quite bullish on investment opportunities on the NEM blockchain. With COMSA's ICO finally coming to a close, it doesn't seem like there are many options out there for NEM-based ICO's. What's got you excited on NEM for the month of November?

Exciting news from the Qchain TG group @qchainplatform

Qchain is adding several advisors to facilitate expansion into Asian markets. As a US corporation, I expect them to understand that market (including regulatory environment), it seems they have a good grasp of the Eastern European/Russian market, and now targeting Asia. That's a lot of the major markets covered for such a lean team!

Also, there are still just under 12 hours remaining to receive 7.5% bonus tokens through the crowdsale. Get em while it's hot!

haha! I think my OP was a pretty well-laid out argument for why I'm interested in American ICOs. Like I said, I want to invest in the new Google, not some fly-by-night operation. It's just a lot harder to trust projects coming out of countries with no track record of success in the tech field. It's not a coincidence that Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, etc etc are all American. Chinese ICOs could be interesting, too, but China is even tougher on ICOs than the US. Maybe a topic for another thread.

Idk if this thread confirms my suspicions, but it does seem like the US is falling behind in terms of blockchain development. I'll have to check out graft.network, and of course, Qchain.