ICO Survival Guide: Everything you need to know about it What Is An ICO?
An ICO, or “Initial Coin Offering,” uses cryptocurrency to raise capital for new ventures and projects. Each ICO features its own unique, project-specific crypto token, often referred to as an “ICO coin” or “ICO cryptocurrency,” which becomes available for public purchase when the ICO begins. When individuals buy ICO coins, they are functionally investing in the project. The idea behind an ICO is to get a high number of people to participate, raising as much capital as possible by distributing the tokens through blockchain technology among a wide variety of supporters. ICOs are similar to crowd funding in that they use digital networks to aggregate financial support from multiple funders. But ICOs have several features that do not apply to traditional crowd funding platforms. For example, the asset acquired by a participant’s investment (i.e., the ICO coin) can appreciate in value. Indeed, this is a primary incentive for purchasing ICO coins. Beyond that, ICOs present a variety of new legal, ethical, and safety considerations. The concept of using blockchain technology to facilitate earlystage project funding has no functional precedent. Therefore, practices around policy, regulation, and security are still very much under debate.