2018 was Good for STOs, but Challenging for ICOs & Bitcoin Tanks

InWara provides insightful analysis based on institutional-grade ICO/VC data to provide retail and institutional investors a clear assessment of the current trends and developments in this space.

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The bull run lasting approximately until the end of 2017 generated an unprecedented amount of wealth for the founding teams who had already listed their ICOs in the crypto market space. Bitcoin price soared to an all-time high almost soaring close to mount $20K, a staggering growth of more than 2000% [check this number]. However, in 2018, the market corrected itself and lost about 60% of its total aggregate market cap in just one month [check this number].

Amongst cries by experts, both for and against the market has matured. The year didn’t bode well with Warren Buffet saying, “In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending,” the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway said early in January 2018. The counter arguments strongly relied on the fact that traditional money managers including hedge funds were under pressure from their investors, who questioned why they missed out on 10X returns.

Fast forward a year when the expert predictions were turning south, billionaire investor and Bitcoin bull Tim Draper claimed that he stands by his most optimistic price prediction — $250,000 by 2023.

Amongst the claims and counterclaims Bitcoin was still at sub $4K levels at the end of 2018. The market has known and has faced many a bubble-like situation and has grown past it. The tanking of Bitcoin is likened by many optimists to the multiple tanking of Amazon over the past 20 years.

Despite the unfavorable capital market developments, the fact remains that Blockchain is a technology that is here to stay, improvise, add efficiencies and transparency to the market!!

Amongst the claims and counterclaims on the future of blockchain, one can but not notice that the market is maturing and moving past fear, uncertainty and doubt-FUD stage.

One of the key developments this year in the cryptocurrency space have been the advent of STOs — Security Token Offerings gaining momentum while ICOs — Initial Coin Offerings have tapered.

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Security Tokens Offerings (STOs) picks up momentum where ICOs tapered

STOs are similar to ICOs except that, instead of just buying the tokens, investors are granted ownership over the company’s tangible assets like stocks or bonds.

Source: InWara’s Annual Report 2018

STOs are registered tokens commissioned with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which make the management teams accountable to a large degree to the law and to investors. With a regulatory framework behind it, STOs provide asset backing — a must for retail and institutional investors.

With a growing number of ICO scams hitting the news in 2018, investors both institutional as well as retail, have started to lose faith in ICOs. So far a successful alternative being explored by the community are STOs.

Despite the tank in Bitcoin prices, the number of ICOs launched were high!

2018 saw a high number of ICOs launched as compared to 2017. USA saw both the highest number of ICOs growing at 60% YoY. On the other hand, in UK and Singapore, the number of ICOs almost tripled to about 200 in each country. Except for Russia, where the number of ICOs was stable, the number of launches rocketed in countries such as Estonia, Germany, and Australia.

The ban in China has practically been ineffective with the forbidden fruit being too tempting for the investors. The number of ICOs from China doubled in 2018! Overall, the appetite for ICOs in the Asian crypto market is high and growing.

Source: InWara’s Annual Report 2018

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ICO listings fall in 2018 — Investors stuck with illiquid tokens

Source: InWara’s Annual Report 2018

ICOs listing on the exchanges observed a substantial dip with less than 20% of ICOs listing in 2018. Just 15% of ICOs have been listed in exchanges during Q4 2018, presenting a serious threat for the investors, getting stuck with tokens and offering no liquidity.

All the data for this research is sourced from InWara’s Annual Report 2018

The Complete Report Includes

• ICO Landscape 2018
• STO Landscape 2018
• 2018 Crypto Market Trend Analysis
• Private Funding in ICOs, STOs and Blockchain Companies in 2018
• Mergers and Acquisitions in Crypto Landscape during 2018

For veritable insights into cryptocurrency landscape,

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2018 was Good for STOs, but Challenging for ICOs & Bitcoin Tanks was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.