Initial Coin Offering
a.k.a. ICO, Token sale
A fundraiser where a new crypto project sells its tokens to the public before or at launch.
An initial coin offering (ICO) is how many crypto projects raised money: sell brand-new tokens to the public, usually for bitcoin or ether, and use the money to build. It borrows its name from a stock market IPO, without most of the rules.
ICOs exploded in 2017. Anyone with a whitepaper and a website could raise millions in days. A few projects built real things. Many never delivered, and some were simple scams that vanished with the money. Regulators, including the SEC, later argued that many ICO tokens were unregistered securities. Newer variations go by other names, but the risks rhyme.
Buying into a token sale on the strength of the whitepaper and the hype, without checking who the team is and how many tokens they keep for themselves.
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