ICO
An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) sells new tokens to the public before launch to raise funds — crypto's 2017 craze, where whitepapers alone raised billions a
An ICO (Initial Coin Offering) sells new tokens to the public before launch to raise funds — crypto’s 2017 craze, where whitepapers alone raised billions and most buyers lost everything. Regulators worldwide later ruled many ICOs were illegal unregistered securities sales.
Why it matters
ICOs are history that rhymes: every cycle reinvents them (IEOs, IDOs, “fair” mints, points). The pattern to recognize is unchanged — insiders price the sale, retail provides exit liquidity, and “utility” does heavy lifting in the pitch. Modern launchpads add KYC and lockups, but information asymmetry is the product being sold as much as the token.
Related terms
token ·
fair launch · exchange