Note: this article was written in 2018, at the height of the ICO boom. Many ICOs from that period failed or turned out to be fraudulent, and some of the listing sites mentioned may no longer operate.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a term that investors are going crazy about. For the perplexed individuals who are wondering what ICO means and how it is widely sought by investors, read through the below information to be enlightened.
What is ICO (Initial Coin Offering)?
ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering wherein investors have the offering of a certain number of units of new cryptocurrency or crypto-tokens.
These units are generally given to them in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Through ICOs, crowdfunding is a widely accepted practice and companies like Ripple, Bitcoin and lately Ethereum have largely benefitted.
The most prominent of them is Ethereum’s crowdfunding through which approximately $20mio and has been the capital base for the development of Ethereum Cryptocurrency.
Purposes behind ICO
It gets really curious why these ICOs are being vitally used in the market today. Here is a sneak peek into their purposes.
- Since its inception in 2013, the ICOs are mostly used to fund the development of new cryptocurrencies through various crypto projects.
- It enables the release of freely tradable tokens by both individuals and companies.
- Also It helps to bypass the regulated capital raising process that is normally adhered to by other capitalists or banks.
- It has been a medium for companies that seek investment and for investors looking for investment opportunities.
- Faster gains through an ICO is possible and it is easier to take out the profits from it.
How does an ICO listing site help?
With the above attractive benefits that one gains through an ICO, investors need the guidance to pick the right project to invest.
ICO Listing sites perform the needed research on the investors behalf and list the features of every ICO project so that the right investment decisions pertaining to ICOs are made.
The features of the site, the ease of its use to read through the information and the amount/ in-depth assessment of information categorize various sites that are available for investors. Let’s look at some of the top ones matching the needed criterion.
Popular ICO Listing Websites For Investors
A quick review of what the below ICO Listing sites have in market:
Bitcoin Market Journal
A very thorough analysis of all completed, ongoing and futuristic token sales are provided in the bitcoin market journal. Every ICO that is listed on this site carries sufficient information in order to facilitate an informed decision-making process.
Articles that aid in gaining better insights into the ICO process are available for investors. It has to be noted that it is free for the ICOs to be listed on this website.
ICO Alert
The comprehensive list of ICOs including larger information on token sale is available on the ICO Alert listing website.
Beyond just giving basic details like the names of the ICO listings, this website also shares ample information about pre-sales and AirDrops of the projects listed on its site. The site also ranks each ICO based on its performance.
ICO Rating
Since ICO comes with an open risk around the lack of regulations, it will be imperative to save investors from any scam with the ICO listing.
The ICO Rating website utilizes a set of parameters to assess the risk factor associated with the ICOs and sequence them based on this number. This risk factor number is a great guide for investors to proceed with buying the tokens.
Coin schedule
Staying updated with the changing trends and the advancements in investing opportunities is very important. Coin schedule is a website that greatly aids the investors by collecting the ICO project’s information and social media statistics for projecting the fundraising capabilities of ICO investments.
BestCoins
Sharing of insights and participating in discussions have proven to yield better results with ICOs. In BestCoins, involved parties interact to discuss the ICO projects on the forums. The tokens are also segregated based on sectors so as to help the investors find the right one for discussion and investment.
ICODrops
This listing website is well acclaimed to be the most updated websites with respect to information about the end, ongoing and the upcoming ICOs. The user interface on this website is quite intuitive and is a hit amongst its users.
ICOBench
A calendar that drives the launch of new ICOs, and provisions information of the expired ones is what an investor sees on ICOBench website.
Besides this, this listing website also brings you information about the price data for the multiple currencies and every investor visiting this site gets it streaming live.
ICOTracker
ICOTracker is yet another smooth and hassle-free website with a simple user interface. The not-so-complex design is easily navigable to gather information about the past ICOs and the new/upcoming ones along with a detailed study of each of them.
ICOIndex
This listing website is a little unique in its presentation of facts about the ICOs. Investors learn about the ICOs that are suspected to be fishy/ scam beyond the knowledge of authentic ICOs (completed, current and new).
Any ICO or currency that fails to substantiate itself with information gets listed as a suspicious one on ICOIndex website.
TokenMarket
Wouldn’t an advisory service prior to investing in ICOs be helpful for investors? Token Market is more of a hub that handles all articles, latest buzz, and related information about ICOs here.
Needless to say, Token Market also covers detailed information on the tokens and cryptocurrencies. The highlighting factor is the availability of advisory services.
Besides the above ICO listing websites, many others like Last Crypto, ICO Countdown, ICO Bazaar, ICO List, ICO Watchlist and ICO Quest are available on the online channel to gather all relevant information about the ICOs.
The bottom line for investors is that they are expected to perform the needed research through the listing websites and gather the analysis of experts from them.
The guided decision-making process is sure to yield greater results as fundraising through cryptocurrencies is definitely a move to watch out for in investing and profiting!
Listing is only one step — what ICO promotion involves covers the rest.
