With the ethereum price sitting more than 80 percent below its all-time high in mid-September, the conventional wisdom said that startups who had raised funds through initial coin offerings (ICOs) were likely driving the sell-off. ICOs, after all, had been conducted almost entirely using ETH, leaving hundreds of startups sitting on a steadily-depreciating asset. The convention wisdom, it turns out, was wrong, at least according to a new report from BitMEX Research.
Ethereum Price Decline Not Weighing Heavy on Blockchain Startups
That report, published Oct. 1, examined the time-lapsed ethereum balances of 222 projects that collectively raised $5.5 billion, as measured by the ETH/USD exchange rate at the conclusion of their respective ICOs. BitMEX Research tracked ICO selling over time to determine how the ethereum price decline had affected the bottom line of ETH-heavy balance sheets among token developers.
The researchers found that ICO-funded projects have, on average and in USD terms, cashed out almost as much capital as they raised at the time of the sale.
Excluding EOS — which raised $3.8 billion in ETH and steadily exchanged those funds throughout its year-long ICO — the projects surveyed in the report raised just under $1.64 billion. To date, they have sold an estimated $1.56 billion in ether, realizing a net profit of $727 million over the value of ETH at the conclusion of the token sales.