What is an Initial Coin Offering (ICO)?

Publication Date

6-6-2018

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

Sturm College of Law

Keywords

Cryptocurrency, Crypto, Capital, Tokens, Digital assets, Stock, Whitepaper, Startup, Initial Coin Offering (ICO), Mastercoin, Ripple Labs, Ethereum, Venture capital, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Abstract

An initial coin offering (ICO) is the term used to describe the method that a crypto firm or company utilizes to raise capital to fund a particular venture or project through the sale of its tokens. In essence, ICOs are a way for a startup business to raise capital without having to access and utilize traditional methods such as venture capital funding or SEC crowdfunding. While ICOs started out small and were funded primarily by investors or backers who believed in the underlying project or were hoping to make a return by being one of the initial holders of the tokens, that has since changed.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Stacey L. Bowers

Language

English (eng)

Publication Title

The Race to the Bottom

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