I'm wondering what everyone's opinion is on ICOs, in general, and what your guidelines for investment might be. Note, this isn't a standard "should I invest in btc or X, Y or Z thread, but more of a place to share some strategies.
Personally I always start with the whitepaper and research it and its merit. If it sounds reasonable, I try to answer the question of "what problem does this ICO solve?" - is there a need for it, or, is it simply applying blockchain to some aspect of some industry for no real reason.
Finally, I look at the team. Have I heard of anyone, can I find them on twitter or LinkedIn, etc.
Anyone have other strategies they are willing to share? Looking forward to the discussion!
Since the first time there was an ICO, I always skeptical about it. I just dob't get it why people are pouring money into a conceptual whitepaper with no working product. What's worse is that most of these ICO died shortly after the distribution of the tokens and the product will never be made. I think only 1 in a 100 ICO product make it and get released to the market and have an actual use. It's even stranger that over time ICO only becomes more popular, at least so far. I thought this is unhealthy for the economy as most people just using it as a gambling to make more bucks instead of investing for better and innovative technology. I really hope ICO scene will get better in the future or simply just ends the frenzy.
My strategy is not much different from yours, it's just I don't start with the whitepaper. In fact, I rarely read any whitepaper because I could already tell that some ICOs are just there to make quick buck and not here to stay. I only read the ones that I deem reasonable and promising.
Definitely agree with you, and 1 in 100 is probably even being generous. I don't really see the 'blind' investment strategy (of some people) too strange though, as ultimately, it's basically just venture capitalism/tech start-ups. However, its definitely a strange combination in that it's a start up without any type of prototype, so something more akin to an inventor just trying to raise capital to make their own