Quote from: Spoetnik on September 19, 2017, 11:42:48 PM

You all are ignoring what they are.
As in HOW THEY WORK...

I'm new so if there's a dynamic here that I'm unaware of am not adhering to, that's probably why. feel free to dm me if i violate some norms.

That said, @Spoetnik i understand your sentiment, but I'm not sure I agree with your assessments.

While the atmosphere around ICOs is erratic, that is the natural state of something as fundamentally innovation as the blockchain is technologically and by extension economically. The blockchain and smart contracts are potentially so deflationary that, within the broader contexts of machine learning and globalization, their impact over even the next 10 years is unforeseeable.

The ICO ecosystem is erratic because it's going to create a lot of winners and losers, in terms of incumbents vs. newcomers.

Are we in a cryptoassst bubble?
Yes.

Will it boom and bust many more time before global adoption stabilizes the cryptoassst ecosystem
You can bet on it.

Are smart contracts, and by extension ICO-created cryptoasssts going to achieve global ubiquity?
There's no doubt. It's infinitely better than the status quo for just about every type of transaction.

Are ICOs chock full of scammers?
Yes, but they are nothing more than background noise to folks who see the fundamental value in the blockchain and are building actual product on top of it to possibly make a dent in the world.

Shouldn't this all be illegal for the sake of the blockchain's reputation
It already is. There doesn't need to be any new laws for fraud and embezzlement. All crooks are doing is run-of-the-mill white-collar crime. The ICO is just a new canvas upon which the artist paints their con it's still the same same painting (if you will).

Will the scammers bring us all down?
For a time, but this too will pass just like it did after the first dot com bubble. Many more people will go to prison this time though. Just like now, in the first dot com there were irrational valuations that baselessly spiraled higher and higher before burning out and going to zero. The difference is that the blatant SEC violations and fraud were no where near the levels they are currently in cryptoassets, at that time in the late-90's/early-2000's.

Anyway, sorry for the rant but I truly believe in cryptoassets. Do I want to do well in the ecosystem? Yeah sure, but that's not the only reason and that doesn't negate all the other reason's why I or anyone else would be interested in ICOs and crypto more broadly.

My advice to anyone who believes like I do that crypto is going to change everything and is building that change...
Keep your head down on your projects and ignore the BS hype. Have a plan for reducing your burn rates because when the bottom falls out of the cryptoasset market, and it certainly will, your team is going to need to have a long enough runway to see your way to sustainability or a market turn around. Sadly, most projects will not make it through the coming storm. Plan for it.