Tezos' $232 Million ICO May Just Be The Beginning - Forbes
So far, 2017 is shaping up to be a historic year for the crypto space with nary a dull moment. If you've been moving around in cryptocurrency circles, you probably already know that there's value to be found in rebelling against conventional wisdom. Bitcoin was built on a foundation that rebelled against fiat currencies and centralized financial authorities. We've seen the bust and boom cycles of Bitcoin – and the cryptocurrency has proved that it can survive alongside fiat currencies. We have also seen the rise (and occasional fall) of dozens of other cryptocurrencies. Now, braver folks are venturing beyond the shores of traditional cryptocurrencies to seek their fortunes in the "new way to invest"—Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).
See The Emperor's New Coins: How ICOs Are Fueling A $100 Billion Bubble.
An ICO is simply a process by which cryptocurrency startups raise funds for new ventures. ICOs are similar to crowdfunding, except that they are almost always designed to raise funds for cryptocurrency projects, that might not be eligible for the capital-raising process of banks and venture capitalists. During an ICO campaign, enthusiasts and potential investors will buy some of the tokens of the new cryptocurrency project. Just yesterday, Tezos announced the largest ICO to date, raising $232 million worth of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) coins, making it the largest ICO to date. Tezos is just a part of the current wave of interesting companies who have already been through or are currently in the process of an ICO.
Meet some other interesting ICOs:
Augur
Augur is created to be a decentralized prediction market where people can bet on the possible outcome of events – a betting/forecasting platform of sorts. Augur has practically created a betting platform where you can bet on “everything from elections to the destruction of our solar system.” if your forecast/prediction is correct, you'll earn rewards in the form of Augur's Reputation (REP) tokens. Augur's ICO helped the firm to raise more than $5.2M in a token sale, with $2.5M in the first three days. Augur has already rewarded its early investors as its REPs currently trade around $26 and the price may continue to rise as more people come on board to the betting platform.
ChronoBank
Chronobank is another cryptocurrency startup that has found a way to fund its business by holding an ICO. Chronobank is simply the Uber of recruitments as it works on creating an ecosystem where freelance projects are bought and sold with cryptocurrency. When the ICO ended, ChronoBank had raised a total of $5.4M collected in seven cryptocurrencies and USD. Chronobank now has a market capitalization of more than 5,400BTC. The firm's CEO, Sergei Sergienko notes that "we have the funds we need to launch a successful platform and forge the relationships to make ChronoBank a major disruptive force in the recruitment industry".
Agrello
Agrello is yet to hold its ICO, however, it has the potential to become one of the biggest success stories in the cryptocurrency world for smart investors. Agrello is simply a platform for building legally binding smart-contracts, using AI without having any prior legal skills or knowledge of coding. The Agrello token is called Delta Δ and it is being offered with Tier 1 at 0.0001Ƀ, Tier 2 at 0.00011Ƀ, Tier 3 is set at 0.00012Ƀ, and Tier 4 is set at 0.00013Ƀ.
One of the key factors that hint at the potential success of Agrello, is its application across a wide range of industries. For instance, Agrello recently inked a partnership deal with Finnish manufacturing giant INCAP, to provide smart agreement prototyping for INCAP's labor management process. Agrello also has a deal with ViewFibn to develop a digital identity engine.
New investment vehicles arrive
Investing in the cryptocurrency market sounds simple enough by buying cryptocurrencies at a low price and selling them off at a higher price. Sophisticated investors may also consider putting their money into ICOs in much the same way that traditional investors look for promising IPO in stocks.
However, as the cryptocurrency markets start to mature, new kinds of investment vehicles and opportunities are coming to the limelight. One of these investment vehicles is the cryptofund, which can be likened to a hedge fund owning different sorts of cryptocurrencies. A cryptofund is simply a portfolio that seeks to make gains by trading cryptocurrencies — some cryptofunds might also be engaged in the mining of cryptocurrencies.
If you want to gain a diversified form of exposure into the cryptocurrency market, cryptofunds can provide you with a smart tool to access these markets. For instance, eToro's CryptoFund, provides access to six unique cryptocurrencies in order to offer a balanced exposure to the cryptocurrency market. The diversification of the fund allows investors to be uniquely positioned to record gains across multiple cryptocurrencies and it protects them against massive losses in any single cryptocurrency.
If you would like to invest directly in startups operating in the cryptocurrency market, you may want to consider investing in Pantera Capital. The firm seeks to provide VC funding to startups working in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries. By investing with a firm such as Pantera Capital, you'll get a chance to profit from price gains in cryptocurrencies and profit from the success of the firms behind such cryptocurrencies.