Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a common fundraising mechanism employed by blockchain-based projects. ICOs are characterized by the sale of cryptoassets to the general public via a project’s own platform rather than exchanges or launchpads. These sales will typically involve a fixed number of tokens being offered at a set price, although exact mechanisms vary by project. To participate, purchasers will exchange another cryptoasset, such as ETH, or fiat currencies for a project’s native token. ICOs are not necessarily trustless and can be conducted with or without the use of off-chain instruments. ICOs became increasingly popular in 2017 and 2018, where over $20 billion was raised to support the development of over 1,000 projects, but have since declined in ubiquity.