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Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

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41–50 of 433 posts

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#41
post #23

You can see the state (volume, # daily users) of some of these promised "dapps" here: https://dappradar.com . It is indeed a barren wasteland. And when a new popular ICO comes along, the Ethereum network struggles and fees skyrocket. It's weird because people compare it to the early days of the Internet... but the early Internet was useful from its beginning: you could at least send messages and files across the netw…

>>It's weird because people compare it to the early days of the Internet... but the early Internet was useful from its beginning

Exactly why so much wealth was created by the Internet boom. The wealth came from utility that already existed, just needed to be harnessed to its fullest potential. ICO scams are based on generating wealth first and hoping that utility follows at some undetermined time in the future.

It's all snake oil. Maybe snake oil can be useful to someone at some point in time, but until then it's still just a scam.

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#43
post #23

You can see the state (volume, # daily users) of some of these promised "dapps" here: https://dappradar.com . It is indeed a barren wasteland. And when a new popular ICO comes along, the Ethereum network struggles and fees skyrocket. It's weird because people compare it to the early days of the Internet... but the early Internet was useful from its beginning: you could at least send messages and files across the netw…

Global network consumes more energy than tiny, sparsely populated country. Hmm.

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#45
Original Boston College Paper that this article is based on: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3182169

Conclusion:

"We also show that there is a positive and convex relationship between (log) market cap and (log) number of Twitter users, that nearly all ICO capital is raised by crypto-companies that continue to be active (on Twitter) after 120 days, and that daily Twitter intensity is associated with positive returns that day but negative returns in the future, suggesting overreaction and reversals. "

"It suggests that scams, while plentiful in number, are not as important in terms of stolen capital because investors are shrewd enough to spot (and underfund) them."

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#46
post #18

So I've been doing alot of thinking lately about traditional VC and PE vs ICO's for work. Its pretty rare for VC and PE firms to just be blatantly ripped off like a good portion of ICO investors are. As far as I can this is due to 3 things. 1) Geography, Most VC/PE firms only invest in a particular country and know the laws as they relate to the contracts they sign with companies. This ensures that they can atleast t…

> So I've been doing alot of thinking lately about traditional VC and PE vs ICO's for work. You are missing part of the story: before ICOs there is a presale phase where some projects finish before the ICO. This is where real competition with VCs happens since the top projects receive more money from non traditional investors using cryptoassets than the one promised by traditional VCs (except in very rare cases). In…

Indeed, ICOs offer a great alternative for entrepreneurs: the opportunity to be snubbing VC.

If I can raise money through an ICO without diluting, why would I waste my time with VCs and their beauty contests?

This is the new third way: bootstrap using your own money, they scale up with ICOs. I am not surprised the VC-funded startup world is so hostile to cryptocurrencies and ICOs: it is competition. It means a future where entrepreneurs can opt-out of VC and IPOs. That would be bad to the bottomline: no more preferred stocks with liquidation preferences!

ICOs are in their infancies, so there are a lot of scam, but the market will eventually evolve solutions like smart contracts (or just reputation!). If I was in VC, I would start worrying or lobbying for special treatment - like expending the "investor status" to cover IPOs.

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#47

So I've been doing alot of thinking lately about traditional VC and PE vs ICO's for work. Its pretty rare for VC and PE firms to just be blatantly ripped off like a good portion of ICO investors are. As far as I can this is due to 3 things. 1) Geography, Most VC/PE firms only invest in a particular country and know the laws as they relate to the contracts they sign with companies. This ensures that they can atleast t…

> They just require "adults in the room."

You mean like regulators and trusted intermediaries? Due diligence conducted by independent third parties? Like the real financial system has always had?

So basically, we went through this whole ICO bubble to realize that things are the way they are for a reason.

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#49
post #23

You can see the state (volume, # daily users) of some of these promised "dapps" here: https://dappradar.com . It is indeed a barren wasteland. And when a new popular ICO comes along, the Ethereum network struggles and fees skyrocket. It's weird because people compare it to the early days of the Internet... but the early Internet was useful from its beginning: you could at least send messages and files across the netw…

> It's weird because people compare it to the early days of the Internet... but the early Internet was useful from its beginning: you could at least send messages and files across the network, which was incredibly useful to academia and the military and was orders of magnitude more efficient than any alternative. How is running an ICO not useful to people? Get lot of money with only doing a lousy whitepaper, drive fe…

If you consider being the beneficiary of a boom in what is effectively fraud a "good thing," sure. I can driver a Ferrari if I literally rob people, too, but most people would consider the people I've hurt in the process when evaluating the merits of my actions.

Re: Half of ICOs Die Within Four Months After Token Sales Finalized

#50
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So I've been doing alot of thinking lately about traditional VC and PE vs ICO's for work. You are missing part of the story: before ICOs there is a presale phase where some projects finish before the ICO. This is where real competition with VCs happens since the top projects receive more money from non traditional investors using cryptoassets than the one promised by traditional VCs (except in very rare cases). In…

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you seem to agree with me, with the exception of you thinking geography doesn't matter. I'd disagree with your idea that geography doesn't matter. I would have more confidence in an ICO in the US than I would in say China where it can be hard to sue someone and collect your damages if you win. but if you really feel geography doesn't matter then please share your argument for this, I'…

> Unless I'm misunderstanding you, you seem to agree with me

I am disagreeing and saying that it is VC/PE vs. Presales and ICO the whole story.

> but if you really feel geography doesn't matter then please share your argument for this, I'm ready to learn!!

It is not an argument, it is a fact. For example, you will see a really important investment to an Argentina based company (outside top geographies) in a few months.

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