Quantstamp, and the next generation of ICOs.

The ICO landscape is one of ever-shifting sands. Projects big and small, grand and modest, principled and not-so-much have utilized this novel fundraising method in an attempt to capture the interest of the wider blockchain community and fund their projects.

It may surprise you that in some cases, an ICO needs you less than you need them.

The most successful projects have a few things in common over and above concept and team, and it has been these things I've looked for when advising my friends.

• KYC (upload passport or driver's license)
• Small individual cap
• Whitelist that utilizes whaleproofing
• Presale discounts kept to a minimum
• Reasonable market cap
• And of course.. community!

See the infographic I made last month.

But this is no longer enough. What do you do when the demand for your ICO is so overwhelming, that even these measures don't keep out those who are just looking to make a buck?

Enter: Quantstamp.

Before I talk about this ICO, I want to give my readers a breakdown of what exactly Quantstamp is proposing. I'll be blunt. For the average investor, Quantstamp isn't offering the sexiest proposition. Their project aims to automate smart contract auditing.

Excerpt from their whitepaper:

"Current efforts to validate smart contracts are inadequate. Engaging security consulting companies require human experts to audit smart contracts. This process is expensive and error-prone. Also, relying on a single company requires trusting that no bad actors exist in the company. A distributed system relying on consensus among many different actors is far more secure."

.. and yet, while this idea may make a layperson's eyes glaze over, there's more to this than you think. At the very least, a careful look at the use case is needed. So let's break it down quickly before getting back to the ICO.

It turns out that auditors aren't immune from corruption.

Quantstamp is:

• Creating a community of auditors who care about smart contract security.
• Will use an automated system that checks for known security flaws and report back to the developer.
• Has already completed the audit of the Request Network smart contract.
• Have taken game theory into account with their token distribution
• Was founded in June 2017
• Have an ambitious road map in place that spans to Oct 2018.
• Aim to be the "first Ethereum killer app"
• Is incentivizing people who care.

Quantstamp wants to introduce a 'proof of audit' hash in a smart contract. This would be like seeing SSL in your browser (https:) That extra layer of security, or that checkmark is what lets interested parties know that the path forward is safe.

Maybe the coolest thing about Quantstamp is how they incentivize objective parties to audit the data. Instead of miners, Quantstamp will use a similar concept called 'verifiers' who get their token (QSP) for validating the integrity of a smart contract. Diligent smart contract developers will have a financial incentive to pay for this extra layer of security.

If you want to learn more, you can read the whitepaper yourself.

So what's so special about this ICO?

The concept of 'proof of caring'. For those paying attention, you may have noticed something interesting about Cindicator's token sale. It was actually pretty difficult to participate. That was no accident. Cindicator were pioneers in what I'm calling 'ICO 2.0', and I believe that proof of caring is an extension of this.

What is 'proof of caring'? Let me give you my take. It's proof that you actually read the whitepaper, understand the goals of the project, and aren't just looking for a quick flip on your investment.

Basically, here's the rub. A Good ICO needs you less than you need them. Quantstamp is a good ICO.

I won't give everything away, but if you start poking around their site, you may notice something different. Quantstamp is watching. They know if you've joined their mailing list. They know if you've seen their whitepaper. They know if you're in Telegram and Rocket Chat. Further, they know if you care. The days of throwing ETH at projects are coming to an end.

The question is, do you care?