What is an Initial Coin Offering? ICO

Alternative fundraising methods, such as equity crowdfunding, often lack liquid secondary markets, making a comparable analysis challenging (Lukkarinen & Schwienbacher, 2023; Hornuf & Schwienbacher, 2018). However, ICOs provide the required setting for an empirical study about the relationship between token retention and post-funding success. We believe that the described effects of equity retention in the public markets persist in the ICO context. Davydiuk et al. (2023) examine the impact of the share of tokens that cannot be sold directly to outside investors on, among others, the natural logarithm of the funding amount raised and the ratio of the funds raised during the ICO to the defined hard cap. The outcome of the regressions shows a highly significant positive relationship between the Digital asset management token retention variable and the two different success metrics.

Understand the Market Landscape

During this stage, the team tries to collect money to be spent for marketing and funding the next stages of the ICO. Since the project is not yet on its feet and many things have to be handled manually, they try to avoid a multitude of small investors and usually ico software development company create an investment threshold (say, 1000 USD). Choosing the total supply of an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) coin is a pivotal decision that reverberates throughout the lifespan of a cryptocurrency project. It significantly influences factors such as token value, scarcity, and market dynamics, shaping the perceptions of investors and users alike. A comprehensive understanding of the project’s objectives, tokenomics, and target audience is indispensable in determining an optimal supply that aligns with both short-term goals and long-term sustainability. We can verify that, although balanced, most whitepapers do not disclose the team (52%), and the large majority are not technical (80%).

How can investors ensure an ICO complies with regulatory requirements?

First, the token retention and restriction should be more “valuable” the higher the human capital quality of the company is. Investors expect that the retained and restricted tokens may be (partially) used for future operations. The success prospects of these future operations should be enhanced if the personnel responsible for the operations are of higher quality. Second, token restriction and retention may also impact the importance given by investors to human quality signals. Even though a company may have strong founders and teams, the investor faces the risk that this team could leave the company at any time. The additional disclosure of token retention and https://www.xcritical.com/ token restriction may reassure investors that the team will stay with the company for longer due to their upside participation and potential financial losses in case of earlier departure.

How To Choose A Reliable Crypto/ICO White Paper Writer

A clear and compelling whitepaper can attract more investors, create interest in the project, and increase the chances of successful fundraising. Do not wait until the end of your white paper to reveal the value offered by your project. Instead, make it clear right from the start what benefits your project will bring to potential investors and customers. They should not have to read the entire white paper to understand the value you will offer. This will help to grab the reader’s attention and keep them engaged throughout the document. Conduct thorough research about your target business opportunity or problem and present your findings in the white paper.

Why is writing an ICO whitepaper important?

In 2017, the total amount raised by 210 ICOs was about 4 billion US and overcame venture capital funneled toward high tech initiatives in the same period. The first token sale was held by Mastercoin in July 2013 but one of the most successful and still operative is Ethereum which raised 3,700 BTC in its first 12 h in 2014, equal to approximately 2.3 million dollars at that time. Blockchain and the cryptocurrency market are uncharted territories for modern lawyers; as a result, they need to be properly regulated and may face unforeseen difficulties. In addition, the terms blockchain, cryptocurrencies, initial coin offerings, tokens, etc., need to be clearly defined by modern legislation.

These token sales signify not only a departure from traditional financial systems but also a gateway to uncharted territories of investment potential. While a staggering $7 billion was amassed via ICOs in the first half of 2018 alone1, the sobering reality is that almost half of ICOs sold in 2017 had failed by February 20181, painting a picture of a landscape ripe with both opportunity and obsolescence. This examination of the ICO phenomenon is designed to decrypt the enigma of these modern token sales for you. For instance, we confirm that the signal of expensive tokens complemented by a bonus scheme attracts investors, as does the existence of a larger and heterogeneous team capable of producing positive results when compared to small and homogeneous teams. The second hypothesis, which states that projects that provide higher levels of quality information are more successful, is also supported by the analysis of whitepaper and social network variables.

Even though a few lawyers specialize in the blockchain sector, finding one will be very tough and expensive because there are so few of them. Not all ventures publish token allocation information in their public whitepaper; hence, this information being required for inclusion in our baseline sample for the quantitative analyses might lead to a potential selectivity issue. We thus run a two-stage least squares test to address this concern and correct any potential selectivity bias. First, we predict the probability that the venture publishes the token allocation information based on an expanded sample of token offerings. Second, we compute the generalized residuals from our prediction results in the first step, following the approach we used for the main regressions and in line with Gourieroux et al. (1987).

With the blockchain investments sector maturing, ICOs have become a global phenomenon, offering an alternative investment avenue that continues to flourish despite varied regulatory responses across the world. By giving potential investors and the community an in-depth understanding of the project’s objectives, technology, and implementation plans, a white paper can help represent you as an upstanding business with transparent practices. Transparency fosters trust and credibility, which is vital for gaining support and investments. As a leading crypto white paper writing agency, we understand perfectly that a clear and well-structured project presentation is a staple of any token/coin launch. In essence, you have around 25 pages of space to grab the attention of your potential investors, explaining why it’s worth investing in your offering. An initial coin offering, or ICO, is a way for startups to raise funds on the blockchain.

We investigate the success of ICO projects, with our main purpose being to identify factors that influence a project’s outcome. Following a literature review, from which several potential variables were collected, we used a database comprising 428 ICO projects in the banking/financial sector to regress several econometric models. We confirmed the impacts of several variables and obtained particularly valuable results concerning project and campaign variables. The proximity to certain markets with high availability of financial and human capital is also an important determinant of the success of an ICO.

Before buying into an ICO, do your homework and investigate everything you can find about the developers, the project, how the coin is used in the blockchain, and the blockchain’s purpose. The next step is to present the solution – the service or product your project offers. Here, you must convince the reader that your solution effectively addresses the problem. Use facts, statistics, and diagrams to demonstrate how your solution works and why it’s beneficial.

Regulatory sandboxes in some jurisdictions aim to balance innovation with investor protection, yet the SEC warns of market manipulation risks like «scalping» and «pump and dump» strategies. Being adept at scrutinizing online marketing claims, white papers, and the transparency of token issuance can help safeguard your investment from becoming enmeshed in such frauds215. Executing due diligence on ICO teams involves a fine-combing examination of the individuals steering the project. Their skills, prior experience, and verifiable achievements within the cryptocurrency realm are like vetting stamps that can either vouch for credibility or flag potential concerns.

• In crowdfunding projects the entrepreneur and the community in which is embedded works as a strong control for the attractiveness of a business.
• Table 13 shows that the number of team members with crypto experience has a significant negative moderating effect on the relationship between token retention and funding amount (log).
• An ICO whitepaper typically includes sections such as an introduction, problem statement, solution overview, tokenomics, technology and architecture, roadmap, team introduction, and legal and regulatory compliance.
• Several studies suggest a positive impact of pre-sale campaigns and project success (Giudici and Adhami 2019; Lyandres et al. 2019; Ackermann et al. 2020; Roosenboom et al. 2020).
• When we say cryptocurrency, we refer to a digital currency, a new means of exchange, the most popular examples of which are Bitcoin and Ethereum.
• ICOs are another form of cryptocurrency that businesses use in order to raise capital.

However, the SEC released a warning to investors stating that it is illegal for celebrities to use social media to endorse ICOs without disclosing any compensation they received. Also, make sure that the funds will be used for the specific purpose as mentioned in the roadmap. A roadmap is a plan that involves your present and futuristic view of what you are going to do in the following years. This ICO fundraising paper is mandatory because every investor willing to fund will go through it. They will possess a keen knowledge of the crypto market thus, they will note every single detail of a White paper. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).

Token offerings share some common features with crowdfunding and traditional fundraising types, such as initial public offerings and venture capital, while also having many unique characteristics (e.g., Block et al., 2021; Howell et al., 2020; Momtaz, 2020). The table is based on Momtaz (2020) and has been further expanded with the identified information regarding the governance mechanisms of the different fundraising types. Table 2 summarizes the presented key terms in token governance and provides an overview of the corresponding definitions. Even though empirical support for this theory exists in the IPO context (Brav & Gompers, 2003), the relationship in other types of fundraising is less clear. The latter study could not find a significant effect of the token vesting disclosure on the funding amount.