Usually when crypto projects intend to embark on developing their platforms, they usually start by soliciting funds from prospective investors, this is usually done in stages, from private sales, to presale and then the main sales. The last stage (main sale) is usually the most exciting, controversial and determining stage of the sales process, it is the stage that determines whether or not the team will carry on with development of the project, depending on whether or not the softcap was met.
In late 2017, and the most part of 2018, ICO (Initial coin offering) was predominantly the way by which most crypto projects go about raising funds from the public during public sales, in this method a given percentage of the projects tokens/coins are being offered to the public for sale, during which interested and eligible investors are allowed to purchase a given amount.
This trend continued until late 2018 when another means of raising public funds was devised, the IEO ( initial exchange offering), in this pattern of fund raising, users are allowed to purchase tokens/coins of given projects directly from the exchange on which they will trade immediately after the sales process ends. Current is a popular crypto project that did an ICO in 2018, Tokoin recently concluded it's IEO in Kucoin in 2019. I shall be using both projects as case studies to see which of the sales process has been more effective as far as fund raising is concerned.
Current
Current is a crypto based project that happened to be the talk of the crypto space in the early part of 2018, the project has a token (CRNC), with which they reward users for the time, money and data spent streaming media on the web, they aim to be the sportify of the crypto world.
Current hosted an ICO in February 2018, during which it raised $36000 was raised in private sales even before the main sale was held, at that time the number of participants willing to participate in their main sale was overwhelming, and everyone though it was going to be the hit of 2018 and the best thing the crypto space has ever seen in a while.
How it played out
Current did well by gaining the trust of investors to have raise such a huge amount from her sales round, it brought more positivity and reposed more confidence in investors, and for this reason, many ICO websites rated them so highly as of the time.
However, it is worthy of note that current has failed to list on any exchange since the completion of its sale till date, just last month many of her investors out of frustration began to FUD the project. They are left fustrated because because even if the project decides to refund them, they would still be at a great loss considering the price of Ethereum as at the time the ICO was held.
The team have promised countless times to get listed on an exchange, but that doesn't seem to have happened just yet. They are also yet to distribute tokens to investors despite having their funds tied down for up to a year. The frustration continues.
Tokoin
Tokoin is an Indonesian based company that aims to create public digital reputation for MSMEs by which they can secure loans and funds from willing investors and financial institutions. Tokoin IEO was held on the 23rd of August on Kucoin and a total of one million dollars was raised.
The ICO got completed in less than 10 seconds, and upon listing it gave investors an ROI 9× over what was invested. The price has kept rising ever since and the volume has been pretty decent ever since. The Tokoin token with ticker TOKO is currently trading at 0.14$ per token on Kucoin with the USDT trading pair, a direct link to the trading pair can be found here; https://www.kucoin.com/trade
Comparison
Listing time: IEOs take quicker time to get listed on exchanges than ICOs, and with IEOs you are sure of the exchange on which the token of the project you are about to invest in will get listed on right before you invest, the same can't be said for ICOs where listing could be delayed for all eternity, and those who eventually manage to list, do so on low tier exchanges with very insignificant volume thereby making it extremely difficult for investors to trade, for those that would love to. This is one aspect I feel that IEOs are better compared to ICOs. This situation between Tokoin and current explains this so well.
Team integrity: the team integrity of IEO projects can be easily verified when compared to ICO projects, the reason is simply because for a project to get selected for IEO on a reputable exchange, it means the team behind such project have been thoroughly verified and certified to be legit, and as a result investors can go ahead to invest freely without fear. And this was why investors had a lot of confidence going all in Tokoin without any form of fear.
Decent ROIs: IEOs are good at giving good returns on investment, especially when the said IEO is held on a decent exchange. The reason for this is because people are already sure of the exact exchange on which the said coin/token will get listed upon completion of sales. This played a very significant role in why Tokoin was able to rise so high upon completion of its sale. This again further proves that IEOs are more effective and advantageous for crypto investors than ICOs.
Final notes
IEOs are fast becoming the in thing compared to the old fashioned means of raising funds for project development, this was proven further in the subtle comparison that was done between Tokoin and current both of which held an IEO and an ICO respectively. The comparison showed that IEO projects are more favourable investment wise when compared to ICOs and this can be seen in the comparison between Tokoin and current. Investing in a project that did an IEO is more or less a safe haven.
USEFUL LINKS
Website: https://www.tokoin.io/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TokoinOfficial
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TokoinOfficial
Author's Telegram ID: @Idakpe