2016 is the second ICO boom (who can forget the second half of 2014, which saw its own ICO boom. Oh the good old days!) that we've seen after Bitcoin launched. Of course, things are different each time, and 2016 is no different. There are better resources for investors to do their homework. Not every copy-pasta coin gets funding as investors are more discrete with who they fund. Even though there are lots of ICOs ongoing even at this very moment, the disparity is huge - we are no longer in the 'everyone and his dog gets funded' phase.
In this post, I would like to discuss why ICONOMI ICO is another pivotal moment for the crypto industry.
2016 ICO History
Let's get a little bit of 2016 history before discussing ICONOMI
There are two major events in the first half of 2016 that define this current ICO boom:
The first is the very successful ICOs of Lisk and then Waves. Unfortunately, only Lisk generated positive investor returns, and Waves is treading water. However, they are both successful in that they raised a lot of money. Waves is one of the top crowdfunding projects as well. That's success - even if investors didn't make much money.
The second was the spectacular failure of The DAO (It is too long a story to cover in this post, but hopefully you know the gist of it), but more importantly, the "experiment" showed how much investor appetite there still was for ICOs and promising projects. Note the emphasis on promising.
The Story of ICONOMI so far
There are lots of promising things with ICONOMI. Note that I will NOT try and predict if ICONOMI will succeed or fail or if investors will make good returns. That's for another post (follow me). Let's look at the characteristics of ICONOMI ICO:
- ETH based token. Lots of ETH holders looking for the 'next big thing' as evidenced by the spectacular failure of The DAO project. Literally hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Marketplace has appetite for ICOs. This is the post-Lisk/Waves 2016 and there is a lot of money sloshing around in the space.
- Promising projects is the key. Investors are more wary than usual, so not every crappy project is going to get funded. Even though there are like 20 ICOs ongoing at the moment, only 2-3 will be really successful.
- Potential returns for ICONOMI is high for investors.
- Like The DAO, there is a recurring revenue component for investors.
- Good team that is trusted and isn't anonymous.
- Proven track record of listening to investor concerns and changing original plans. Essentially, 'management is shareholder friendly'.
ICONOMI ICO is important for the ecosystem
ICONOMI will either set off a trend of projects with regular revenue (The DAO, Augur, etc. but with a real product very soon) or it will make investors wary in the future. My bet is on the former.
ICONOMI is redefining an important industry in the crypto-land and the returns are there to reap for investors. It caters to both long-term investors and short-term speculators. It is the pure, unadultered version of capitalism and crypto trading that everyone loves. It is therefore an important project for the entire ecosystem.
I believe that the entire ecosystem will benefit from ICONOMI's success. Here's why: say ICONOMI launches funds for new ICOs. This means every ICO already has a potential source of funding in terms of one major manager. In the real world, this is like IPO funding, where corporations go to the biggest banks because they have the most control over people's money (think foundations, pensions, 401ks, etc.) This means the new projects can try and impress a few industry experts, who may invest on behalf of other investors in the ecosystem. Hopefully the managers of this fund will be more knowledgeable than the regular crypto investors and therefore generate better returns.
If you want to, there is still time to invest in ICONOMI ICO.
Are you an investor in ICONOMI? What are your thoughts on the project?