While I do not profess to be an expert on the matter and I am sure that some of what I will say will only be my opinion I can say without a shadow of a doubt that never have we seen so many ICO's being launched. I can also say with a certain degree of confidence that there will be at least one more tomorrow and another the day after that and that and that and that.
I love it! It gives ordinary people the opportunity to change their lives for the better in a way that no bank, broker or investment property could relevant to the amount invested.
That said, ordinary people also stand to lose a lot more than many of the tech-savvy / know it all Crypto experts out there do.
So, what should one look out for when investing in an ICO? Here are few points I look for and I am sure there are many others so welcome the feedback.
Credibility - Who is behind the project? Google, LinkedIn, Facebook - there are a number of ways to research the Team and their credentials. This is important because you are entrusting them to take your money and turn a profit on it.
Revenue - How will they generate it and how will you be rewarded. Really simple but the reason you back it is generally because you want to make money but if it is not clear how they will make it and not clearly defined how you will be remunerated then why bother.
Market- One of the first ICO's I got behind was Power Ledger, great team but their market was Renewable Energy and the distribution of power. A well established or growing market is critical to the success of the project. Creating a new market even with a great team can be a challenge, not saying it will not succeed just that it may have it's challenges.
WhitePaper - If they do not have one they do not have a project. If they have a flimsy whitepaper then they will have a flimsy product. When reading through it, question everything to the best of your ability and if you have any doubts then tread with caution.
Caps - releasing 900 Billion coins/tokens at a $ a piece is madness and ambitious to say the least, also and this is something you will get from the whitepaper but what will happen to coins/token not sold - will they stay in circulation which will seriously devalue the ones sold or will they be burned after the ICO has closed?
Gut Feel This is pretty hard but I have seen a few websites, emails and white papers with language so questionable you'd think Google Translate was stoned when they put it together - that said though it sometimes needs to be a gut feel as I have seen a few out there that are legit - just seems their attention is on what matters and not what sells.
Like I said, the above is my opinion and should not be construed as factual advice. I hope that every investment you make is a successfull one and may you never cross the path of that filthy toad the Scammer.