STEEMIT CRYPTO ACADEMY SEASON2 WEEK1@jimah1k:ICO(INITIAL COIN OFFERING)

Hello @imagen,

Before I start to answer the question I want to say a very big thank you to the crypto academy for this opportunity and also to our own wonderful professor @imagen for this great lecture he delivered. I hope you continue to deliver more.

ICO

source

what is an ICO? an ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering is the crypto currency industry equivalent to an IPO(Initial public offering) for example when an organization are looking to raise funds for a new coin or an app they lunch an ICO. as a form of fund raiser. When investors are interested they receive a new crypto currency token from the organization or company. This token may have some advantages in using the company product and services or may just represent the percentage of stock a person holds in the company.

source

How do ICO’s work? when a crypto currency is setup and wants to make money through ICO’s it usually creates a White paper which will give a detailed profile of what the project is all about, the mission and vision of the project, how much funds is needed, how many tokens, what type of money will be accepted and basically every detail of the project will be on the white paper.

During this campaign interested investors who have read the white paper and feel they can invest into the project then buy project tokens, if the money made does not reach the minimum money required by the organization the money may be returned to the buyers. At this juncture the ICO is regarded as unsuccessful, likewise if the funding requirements are meet the money is used for the goals of the project.

**DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ICO AND IEO. **

Before we can tell the difference between the two I want to quickly explain what an IEO is since I have already explained what ICO is.
What is an IEO? an IEO is an ICO managed by a crypto currency exchange meaning instead of the organization or company selling tokens directly to the public in an IEO everything is done in already existing trading platform unlike ICO’s, IEO’s aim to raise moderate amount of money they are usually classified as utility token.
Now let’s take a look at the major differences between the two.
DIFFRENCES BETWEEN ICO'S AND IEO'S

ICO'S	IEO'S
No crypto currency exchange between token user and investors.	Crypto currency exchange acts as an bridge between token user and investors.
It’s decentralized since you control you funds.	Centralized since crypto currency exchange controls IEO processes
ICO’s hardly disclose information making it prone to scammers.	IEO’s are transparent they disclose every detail about their company and also verify identity making it difficult for scammers
ICO’s sell token directly to the investors.	IEO’s all exchange are done on an existing trading platform.

MERITS OF ICO’s

• Decentralization ICO’s are available to everyone.
• High profits tokens bought at lower prices has a chance of returning high income in the near future
• No verification needed.
• Investors are able to mange their own wallets.

DEMERITS OF ICO’s

• ICO are prone to hackers or can easily be hacked.
• Many scammers setup ICO’s to dupe people
• Since no verification of identity people pretend to be someone else.
• Investors might not get any profits if the project fails to hit the target.

what are the examples of ICO? we have IOTA, spectorcoin, Ark,NXT,Alias and many more I want to explain the project of the development team of Ark.

source

Ark is designed to be efficient as possible this currency allows fast integration of other currencies into its own blockchain. The initial token price was $0.04at its highest levels it rises up to $11. But today it trades as $2.59.

Ark in formation of interest

• Simplicity ark tools and projects are designed so that it can be easily understood
• Speed can be adjusted by the user
• Security ark uses proof of stake algorithm strengthening small networks

Conclusion

Personally for me I think ICO is the better choice because looking at the profit one stands to achieve and I also will advise we pay attention to the organization white paper.

Thank you.