The Evolution of ICOs

ICOs went from being a new phenomenon to the next big thing in the tech space. How have they changed in five years?

The “what”

ICO, (Initial Coin Offering) is an alternative means of crowdfunding for a blockchain project. Think of it as an IPO that raises cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin instead of money or fiat currency. In return, investors will receive the project’s utility token, stored in their personal crypto-wallet.

In the beginning

2013 was the year when we witnessed Mastercoin (renamed to OMNI) hosting the first ICO, followed by MaidSafeCoin in 2014, raising around USD$7M as soon as the token sale commenced. In the hall of ICO fame, you will certainly find Ethereum’s sale in 2014. This prominent event raised more than USD$15M, making ETH one of the biggest ICOs at that time and the great pioneer of cryptocurrency. Through the tremendous success of these pioneers, the ICO became a popular way to fund projects.
In 2016, 54 major ICOs raised almost $103M and the year after, 92 major ICOs raised a staggering USD$1.25B. If that sounds astonishing to you, the ICOs have broken their own record this year by raising USD$6.5B in a mere 5 months!

Road to ICO Stardom

-Pre-announcement
During the pre-announcement stage, information of an ICO project will be released in order to gain traction and create awareness in the crypto community. Potential investors will then look at the project’s whitepaper to assess the viability of a project. Just like any other business, an ICO begins with an idea, a solution to solve an existing problem. The whitepaper describes the solution, introduces the initial product (called Minimum Variable Product) and explains the technical details.
To add credibility, the team’s background, token allocation and use of funds are also found in the document.
As the community plays a huge role in hyping up a project, ICOs will grow and engage their communities on social platforms like Consentium, through group chats and channels.

-Offering
It is important that the whitepaper provides a roadmap that has a clear five to ten-year vision for the business. The roadmap is a document that explains the timeline of the ICO’s activities from project development to launch, as well as future project stages. A brilliant idea without a long-term roadmap could be detrimental to the development of the project and thus, turns potential investors away.
It is also important for ICOs to explain their token’s utility, token lock-up period for certain investors and any bounty or airdrop campaigns.
During the offering state, token sale details are provided:

• Soft cap
• Hard cap
• Total Supply
• Token Price
• Payment Accepted
• Restricted Countries/Age

-Marketing/PR Campaign
The hype for an ICO can be the difference between success and failure. A good project without a solid marketing campaign cannot gain the backing it deserves. Through a good marketing campaign, an ICO project can attract attention from the community, helping to put the project on the radar of potential investors. As the ICO market is driven by one powerful force, FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), the possibility of a successful ICO is higher if the hype around it is so powerful that it makes investor believe they’ll miss out on an amazing opportunity.

-Token Sale
Once the token sale is launched, most ICO projects offer an early bird bonus, usually around 25% to 30%. Some even offer up to 100% bonus to encourage more investors on board.
To participate in the token sale, investors are usually required to complete KYC (Know-Your-Customer) before sending supported cryptocurrencies (usually ETH or BTC) or fiat currency in exchange for the ICO’s tokens. Investors will usually receive the tokens after the sale ends.

Cookie Cutter ICOs

As the ICO market matures, investors become more knowledgeable. ICOs have been launching every other day since 2013, resulting in an over-saturation of projects. The same ICO structure has been used time and time again, making it harder for new projects to stand out. In addition to the bear market in 2018, investors started to lose confidence in ICOs as the profits have not been as lucrative.

Smoke and Mirrors

Investors have become more discerning not only because of market forces but also as a response to scams and failed projects over the years. In 2017, Benebit, one of the most hyped ICOs for that year, faked team photos and still managed to raised $2.7M to $4M in an exit scam. In the same year, PlexCoin misled potential investors by advertising a return of 1,354%, an irresistible profit that raked in at least USD$13M. And of course, how can we miss out BitConnect, one of the biggest cryptocurrency Ponzi schemes ever? BitConnect offered a too-good-to-be-true 1% daily compounded interest through their MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) structure, resulting in a plunge of their token price, from USD$463 to USD$5.92 within a month.

ICO on Steroids

By the final quarter of 2017, gaining traction for an ICO was no longer as simple as having a small team with a big idea and promising whitepaper. To counter that problem and regain investor confidence, new ICO projects strengthened their business proposition by assembling teams of advisors across different functions like finance, sales and marketing.
This led to the popularity of the PAICO (Professionally Advised ICO), the kind of project that was backed by business experts even before it announced a token sale.

What it takes in 2018

The cryptocurrency regulatory environment is still uncertain internationally. However, there are still many new and promising ICO projects that deserve a chance. Investors that believe in a decentralised future should do their due diligence and research thoroughly before participating in token sales. While investors are busy avoiding scams, ICOs now have to work harder to prove they are not one of the bad apples. Through increased transparency in token structure and development plans, ICOs of today can still gain trust and support from the crypto community.

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首次代币发行的历史演进

首次代币发行在五年间从一个新现象发展到科技世界里的下一个重大事件。这中间都经历了什么？

什么是首次代币发行

ICO（首次代币发行）是区块链项目众筹的一种替代方法。可以把它看作首次公开募股，不同的是首次代币发行筹集的是诸如以太币和比特币之类的加密货币，而不是货币或法定货币。作为回报，投资者将收到该项目的公用事业代币，并存储在他们的个人加密钱包中。

初期情况

2013年，我们见证了万事达币（现已更名为奥妙币）主办的第一次首次代币发行，紧接着是2014年的安全币，代币销售之初，就筹集了700万美元。在首次代币发行的名人堂，2014年的以太币销售首屈一指。这一重大活动筹集了1500多万美元，使得以太币首次代币发行一跃成为当时筹款最多的首次代币发行之一，由此以太币也成为了密码货币的伟大先驱。这些先驱代币获得了巨大成功，首次代币发行也变成了一种流行的项目筹资方式。

2016年，54个主要的首次代币发行筹集了将近1.03亿美元，之后的一年，92个主要的首次代币发行筹集了1.25亿美元，更令人震撼的是今年的首次代币发行又打破了去年的记录，在仅仅5个月内就筹集了6.5亿美元！

首次代币发行的宣传之路

-预告

在预告阶段，发布首次代币发行项目的信息，以便在加密社区进行宣传并获得关注。潜在的投资者随后将查看项目的白皮书，以评估项目的可行性。就像其他生意一样，首次代币发行也是从解决现有问题的想法、解决方案开始的。白皮书描述了解决方案，介绍了初始产品（称为最小可变产品），并解释了技术细节。

为了增加可信度，白皮书中也会对团队背景、代币分配和资金使用等进行介绍。

由于社区在项目宣传中发挥着至关重要的作用，首次代币发行会通过小组聊天和频道，在诸如“嘉信”之类的社交平台上发展他们的社区并与之建立紧密的关系。

发行

重要的是，白皮书包含了企业的路线图，清晰地描述了企业5到10年的愿景。路线图说明了首次代币发行活动从项目开发到启动以及未来项目各个阶段的时间线。对于项目的发展来说，只有好的想法是不够的，长期路线图不可或缺，否则项目便无法获得潜在投资者的青睐。

向投资者们解释其代币的实用性、锁定期，以及举办赏金活动或空投活动对于首次代币发行来说也十分重要。

在发行状态期间，会公布代币销售的细节：

软约束

硬约束

总供给

代币价格

接受的付款方式

受限国家/年龄

营销/公关活动

宣传决定了首次代币发行的成败。如果没有扎实的营销活动，一个好项目就得不到应有的支持。优质的市场营销活动可以帮助首次代币发行项目吸引社区的注意力，从而获得潜在投资者的注意。由于首次代币发行市场被一种叫做FOMO（害怕错过）的强大力量所驱动，所以如果首次代币发行的宣传力量强大到可以让投资者相信他们将错过一个千载难逢的好机会，那么首次代币发行成功的可能性就更高。

代币销售

一旦代币销售开始，大多数首次代币发行项目会提供先到先得奖励，通常约为25%到30%。有些首次代币发行项目甚至提供了100%的奖金来鼓励更多的投资者上船。

为了参与代币销售，投资者们通常需要在完成KYC（客户身份验证）之后，才可以发送可用加密货币（通常是以太币或比特币）或法定货币以购买首次代币发行的代币。通常在销售结束后，投资者会收到代币。

千篇一律的首次代币发行

随着首次代币发行市场的成熟，投资者们越来越了解行情。自2013年以来，每隔一天就有一次首次代币发行启动，导致项目过度饱和。相同的首次代币发行结构一次又一次地被使用，使得新项目更加难以脱颖而出。加上2018年的熊市导致利润并不丰厚，投资者们开始对代币发行市场失去信心。

迷雾重重

这些年来，由于市场力量，及为了应对诈骗和失败的项目，投资者们变得更有洞察力。2017年，其中一个大肆宣传的首次代币发行 — — 贝尼比特（Benebit），伪造了团队照片，并在一次退出骗局中筹集了270万到400万美元。同年，PlexCoin通过发布回报率为1354%（这是一个让人难以抗拒的利润率）的广告误导了潜在投资者，并至少捞取了1300万美元。当然，我们不得不提BitConnect，有史以来最大的加密货币庞氏骗局之一。BitConnect通过MLM(多层次直销)结构提供了难以置信的1%的日复利，导致其代币价格在一个月内从463美元暴跌至5.92美元。

服用了兴奋剂的首次代币发行

截至2017年最后一个季度，对首次代币发行来说，获得关注不再像之前那样只需一个怀揣宏大想法和精彩白皮书的小团队。为了应对这个问题，重获投资者的信心，新的首次代币发行项目召集不同职能（例如金融、销售和市场营销）的顾问小组来为他们的商业主张背书。

这导致了PAICO（经过专业咨询的首次代币发行）的流行，这类项目甚至在宣布代币性销售之前就得到了商业专家的支持。

2018年如何获得成功

目前，国际上的加密货币监管环境仍然迷雾重重。然而，仍然有许多新的有前途的首次代币发行项目应该得到机会。那些相信去中心化未来的投资者，应该在参与代币销售之前，做彻底的尽职调查和研究。当投资者忙于避免诈骗时，准备进行首次代币发行的人现在必须更加努力地工作，以证明他们不是诈骗犯。通过提高代币结构和开发计划的透明度，今天的首次代币发行仍然可以获得加密社区的信任和支持。

嘉信彻底颠覆了我们在社交应用程序上的互动方式。通过我们独特的聊天社区货币化模型和回报丰厚的奖励系统，你在嘉信应用程序中的日常聊天就可以获得收益！了解更加详细的信息，请务必查阅我们之前发布的关于聊天社区货币化模型和用户奖励的文章哦！

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