AgroTechFarm ATF ICO: Automated Cannabis Growing Appliances?

Agro Tech Farm is a Russian company that has developed home appliances for climate-controlled automated gardening. While the company’s two devices could be used for virtually any plants, they are particularly interested in marketing to the nascent legal cannabis industry. The company is also issuing its own cryptocurrency, the ATF token, and relying on the ICO to fund their products' development.

The AgroTechFarm ATF Team

AgroTechFarm is led by a relatively young team; most appear to be in their early 30s. However, the eight team members have decades of collective experience in engineering, agriculture, and marketing.

The team is based in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but legally registered in Cyprus due to that nation's ICO-friendly legal environment. The company was officially founded in 2016, but team members have been researching agrotechnology since 2013. Much of the team met while working for Agronomof, an influential but now defunct Russian company that specialized in solutions for climate-controlled vertical farming.

Technology Behind AgroTechFarm

AgroTechFarm has developed working prototypes and secured patents for two related products: they are home appliances, about the size of a refrigerator, that offer perfect conditions for growing plants. The devices are essentially the same, although one includes four racks to grow smaller plants, and the other is an open chamber to grow larger ones.

These products claim to increase yields by up to 30% versus outdoor farming, because the plants have an ideal environment with precisely controlled light, temperature, and moisture, and they're protected from pests and other external threats. The two products fully automate plants' maintenance, so users only need to plant and harvest their crops.

AgroTechFarm's products use LEDs, which are considerably more efficient than the lights most commonly used for indoor gardening. While users could put grow their plants in pots, the company suggests exploring hydroponic setups, where plants are grown in water supplemented with all necessary nutrients. The company's two current products are oriented towards home gardeners, and it's not clear whether they intend to develop solutions for large-scale agriculture.

The company plans to develop production facilities in Canada following its ICO in spring 2018, and release its products in the U.S. and Canada that autumn.

Details About the AgroTechFarm ATF ICO

AgroTechFarm ATF's pre-ICO will begin on February 16, 2018, and its full ICO will begin eight days later. There is a maximum supply of 1,250,000 ATF tokens, 1,060,000 of which will be sold during the ICO. The ATF token is an ERC-20 compliant currency. Thus, they can be stored in wallets designed for Ethereum, and the ICO accepts only Ethereum payments.

Owners of ATF tokens will be entitled to a significant discount on either of the company's products: 10 tokens will equal a $250 discount. Owners will also be able to sell their tokens back to the company in an annual buy-back; 35% of the company's profits will be used to purchase tokens from exchange services, limiting the supply and hopefully increasing their value. The company notes that at a later date, it may explore a traditional IPO, at which point owners will be able to trade their tokens for stock and gain access to dividends.

Due to legal restrictions, citizens of the U.S. and China and cannot participate in the ICO. However, they should be able to purchase the currency on exchange sites afterwards. The company does not make any mention of measures to follow know your customer regulations, which could lead to problems in many jurisdictions.

The AgroTechFarm ATF ICO Verdict

Agro Tech Farm's products are demonstrably effective tools for small-scale indoor gardening, and the company is well positioned to become a leader in this rapidly expanding industry. The discount on their products that token owners will receive makes the ICO an excellent opportunity for anyone interested in buying one, but investors should consider than it pays no dividends, and that its price rising above $25 could lower demand since the discount would no longer motivate buyers.

The company should also be careful with know your customer regulations; they are putting themselves at risk for legal trouble by neglecting them.