Depends on who you ask. The difficulty is that coins have attributes of currency (for example, they represent means of exchange) and goods (since this is a limited resource). Classification of crypto currency varies depending on the country, government and even applications. In the US, the IRS tax service ruled that the virtual currency does not have the status of a legal representative of the exchange. For tax purposes, the IRS considers virtual currency as a property.
Almost $ 120 billion Bitcoin remains the largest crypto currency and accounts for almost 50% of the total market capitalization. Currently, there are more than 800 crypto-currencies, although only 9 have a market capitalization of more than $ 1 billion. Aggregate market capitalization of crypto-currencies is less than 2% of the value of all gold mined in the world.
First, the platform, and secondly, the crypto currency. If Bitcoin is an alternative to "real money," the ether is a platform designed to run any decentralized application that automatically executes smart contracts under certain conditions. Ethereum also represents a digital currency, such as Bitcoin, called Ether. But this is just one of the components of the intellectual performance of the contract and is mainly used to facilitate the work of the network and to receive rewards for using the network. The development of Ethereum was not without failures. You can recall the breaking of the TheDAO fund, after which it took a hardfocus, that is, a reset of the currency, dividing it into two: the old and the new.
Individual investors can trade virtual coins on various online exchanges. Institutional traders are mostly behind the crypto-currency market due to its relatively small size, mandate structure and volatility. But there is a block trade to facilitate the implementation of larger orders. In addition, there are variants of options for bitcoins, which are traded on offshore exchanges. Soon, the US CBOE exchange may see futures and options for the crypto currency, as this trading floor on August 2, 2017 entered into an agreement with the Gemini Trust on the issuance of bitcoin futures in the fourth quarter or early 2018.
Attraction of capital through the sale of tokens. The volume of ICO financing has grown exponentially, and the speed with which money is attracted through this mechanism is a worrying signal for the SEC and the People's Bank of China. This year the companies attracted, with the help of ICO, $ 1.25 billion, which is more than the amount of funding attracted to Internet projects with the help of traditional venture investors.
The Tezos project attracted a record $ 232 million through the ICO. At ICO Bancor was collected $ 150 million in mid-June. The speed of raising funds through the ICO is an added advantage. For example, the Gnosis project raised more than $ 12 million in 15 minutes.