Following the recent surge and the wave of legal actions emerging from the frenzy of initial token sales in 2017 and 2018, it was widely assumed that ICOs had met their demise.
An amalgamation of increased regulatory oversight, particularly in the U.S., extravagant pump-and-dump schemes, and an overall unpredictability reminiscent of the impromptu ideas from the Dot.com era had seemingly sealed the fate of ICOs.
It was unfortunate, as despite the fraudulent activities and excessive marketing, tokens represent an innovative avenue for fundraising.
Stylianos Kampakis, Chief Executive Officer of The Tesseract Academy, remarked that soliciting funds for new ventures had never been simpler than during that period.
“Throughout the ICO era, securing funding was straightforward, but undoubtedly, regulation quashed that. With IEO (Initial Exchange Offerings), one might still need to navigate through regulation and scrutiny, among other challenges,” Kampakis mentioned.
As alluded to by Kampakis, a variety of alternatives emerged, such as initial exchange offerings (IEOs) or token generation events, and even more groundbreaking acronyms like initial node offerings (INOs).
Speculations suggest a resurgence of ICO activities.
Jamie Elkaleh, the global relationships manager at crypto exchange Bitget, observed that while the halving events and Bitcoin ETFs have incited bullish market conditions, token fundraising activities are now more modest than in the past.
“Any entity seeking to raise funds through token sales can leverage transparency as a distinguishing factor, and irrespective of the terminology used — ICOs or token events — these avenues enable interaction with a community and fundraising in a transparent manner,” Elkaleh stated.
“The disparity between 2021 and the current bull market lies in the amounts raised. Previously, funds might have reached the double or triple digits range; presently, they are smaller, with single-digit raises such as $4 million, not $40 [million],” he highlighted.
Token fundraising methods: Cryptocurrency projects employing airdrops
Modern methods of token funding present distinct differences…
