Quote from: EthBooks on July 04, 2017, 06:02:43 PM

An ICO is an event in which a new cryptocurrency project sells part of its cryptocurrency tokens to early adopters and enthusiasts in exchange for money today. ICOs provide a way for cryptocurrency project creators to raise money for their operations.

The ICO usually takes place before the project is completed, and helps fund the expenses undertaken by the founding team until launch.

Indeed and ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering which clearly states that coins are distributed before the launch of token sale or adopting of the market to exchange the coins with other assets in the market.