What is Initial Coin Offering (ICO) ? An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is the cryptocurrency industry’s equivalent to an Initial Public Offering (IPO). ICOs act as a way to raise funds, where a company looking to raise money to create a new coin, app, or service launches an ICO. Interested investors can buy into the offering and receive a new cryptocurrency token issued by the company and this token may have some utility in using the product or service the company is offering or it may just represent a stake in the company or project.
The most alluring part of ICOs is the lack of red tape and formality. More often than not, a company simply has to submit a whitepaper to qualify for an ICO. Companies have been able to raise millions of dollars in mere seconds, thanks to ICOs.
In fact, the amount of money that ICOs have raised over the last two years is truly astonishing. In 2017, ICOs raised a total of $5.6 billion. If that sounds shocking to you then think about this.
ICOs have already raised $6.3 billion, 4.5 months into 2018 alone!
ICOs are basically Blockchain crowd sale, the cryptocurrency version of crowdfunding. The ICOs have been truly revolutionary and have managed to accomplish many amazing tasks:
They have provided the simplest path by which DAPP developers can get the required funding for their projects.
Anyone can become invested in a project they are interested in by purchasing the tokens of that particular DAPP and become a part of the project themselves
The initial coin offering is a completely new phenomenon in the world of finance and technology. The introduction of ICO’s made a significant impact on capital-raising processes in recent years. However, regulatory authorities around the world were not prepared for the introduction of the new fundraising model in finance.
Approaches to the regulation of initial coin offerings vary among different countries. For example, the governments of China and South Korea prohibit ICOs. Many European countries, as well as the United States and Canada, are working on the development of specific regulations to govern the conduct of ICOs.