ICOs, or initial coin offerings, is a crowdfunding way to raise funds for cryptocurrency ventures.
ICOs, a still-unregulated means of raising money in its "modern form," have been around for less than a year and thus are an attractive way for start-ups to raise capital while bypassing regulations. (the knowledge about ICO and cryptocurrency has been mentioned in previous articles in FuninUSA)
The majority of ICOs are scams, but it's still a booming business. They're incredibly risky early stage investments. Scrutiny from regulators, such as the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission, over ICOs is increasing. Meanwhile, bitcoin and other cryptos are falling fast. Also, internet companies, such as Google and Twitter, have banned cryptocurrency ads on their platforms.
Its hard to evaluate the ICOs investment. That's expertise that very few people have since the industry is so new. The regulation is coming. And what an investor can do now, is to determine if an ICO is worth putting their money into. This includes evaluating the integrity of the company, the technical team and what products the company has built in the past. This strategy really helps you determine if the sale will help you finance a company that builds something meaningful, or if they're just raising money for the sake of raising money and going to run away with it. (recommend FuninUSA bitcoin forum for more discussion about comprehensive aspects of cryptocurrency )