2016 Was the Year of Crypto Currency ICO's for Me.
All through 2016 I participated in every ICO I could afford to buy into. It was very exciting. The world of Crypto Currencies were expanding rapidly and all of these teams needed seed money to launch their ideas. We were happy to be part of the early stages of Lisk, Waves, Rise and a handful of others. We were unfortunate to have participated in the DAO debacle. That one tied up a good amount of funds and we barely broke even.
Why I Stopped Buying Into Every ICO.
The DAO was a big downer for me but the one that really pissed me off was the Synereo AMP crowdsale through BnktotheFuture in the Fall of 2016. You see I was a big holder of AMP and when they announced the crowdsale it literally killed all momentum for the token. Why does a company need so much money to launch a platform? Why would you hurt the current holders of AMP?
In the end I realized that much of what is being done in the world of crypto currency is purely based on speculation. This is how I feel when I see most ICO's, "Give us money so that we can begin working on some big idea". There are so many good projects that are already doing big things and they did it without $20 Million in Bitcoin or Ethereum.
When I saw the ZCash launch it gave me hope that the era of large ICO's will come to an end but it looks like 2017 will be another huge year. Wouldn't it make sense to invest in projects via ICO that already have some deliverable product or service? These are the ones I am looking for.
One Thing ICO's Taught Me.
If you are purely joining an ICO to speculate on the price of the token, the day it opens for trading, you might be disappointed. I found it to be a super stressful event if you are purely involved for the immediate profit. The only token that I hit a home run with was LISK. I hit a 7X profit on the first day! The rest opened trading down and I would just break even or be down for a few months. I would be better off trading my Bitcoin on the markets.
Are You Participating in ICO's.
If you are, which ones do you like and please give me a reason other than speculation. In the end the tokens that actually do something will be the ones that survive. This is why I love Bitcoin, Steem, Dash and Monero.
My Favorite Launch So Far in 2017.
My favorite recent non ICO launch was ZenCash. If they can do it I know more companies can self fund and then bring their token to market to continue development and growth. There are a few others that will be launching soon and I will continue to bring you the news.
Zen will be a 50x er. I am like you though. Made a ton of money and now playing conservative. Bitcoin is top my top holding while a few months back it was big bets on Ether from last year. My thesis is if Segwit get in, which I think it will by Aug. Bitcoin will go to $10,000 with very little risk. I will do a few more Etherem based ICOs but that's it. Correction will come at some point even though now it seems like this massive price increase will go on forever. Makes me nervous.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I would hate to tie my money up in ICO's and then we go through a correction. At least if I have control I can move to USD on Wirex or SBD.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
True. However, the good ICOs will multiple even in correction or bear market since valuations lower. Bitcoin will crash the least if we get one. Hope that makes everyone feel better....LOL.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Based solely on the charts Steem looks like the best coin to be in. 300% return looks easy in short term. Fundamentals are here also.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I sure hope that happens, truly life changing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Informative Post @hilarski
I like Golem because of the team behind the project. I see a possible $1 a coin in its near future.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I own some, but it has not performed well compared to the rest of my portfolio. Hopefully good news coming soon.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I think Golem is overvalued. I know you are a fan but the valuation makes no sense to me.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You might be right but there are far too many coins out that there that are overvalued and decent profits are being taken by the willing. I'm Buy and Hold BTC and Steem All Day! Golem is a Pure trade for me. I got in around .23...
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I agree about the riskiness of ICOs and stay away from them as a rule. Your preferred coins - Dash, Bitcoin, Monero, and Steem - are high quality and I think you'll do better trading those. If I really want to get a piece of an ICO, I think it's always smarter to buy after the sale is over, when he hype has died down and the price is usually lower.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I'm willing to give a good start-up a try. No more than $100...I'm interested in this one. https://www.fundyourselfnow.com/
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
excellent article. Thanks for the background. I have been contemplating participating in an ICO but have wondered about the points you discuss, will it pop only to decay underwater quickly - as many equity IPOs do, will it tie up cash for a long time, is it better to just wait until it is trading.
I am interested in Tezos and Bancor. Do you have thoughts on those?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Everyone I know is all over Tezos, but to me it is purely speculation. I will not be participating. I don't know of Bancor.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
yeah, what concerns me about Tezos is that it is unlimited ico and it seems like EVERYONE is hot for it. Since it is unlimited EVERYONE can buy it and if they do, then there will be no further buyers after it is trading - at least for a very long time.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I am still learning about cryptocurrencies, so I don't buy into ICOs.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I didn't buy into any ICOs. What are your guidelines for investment? What exit strategy do you use?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
They must actively be doing something, not just hype. I try to take my initial investment out immediately and then let the house money sit and hopefully grow.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I never did like the "ICO" process. You would think all these smart minds would create a better model for distribution. As opposed to using the same rules of the "old monetary system".
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The things is that some like ZCash and ZenCash chose a different path and it works. Plus it won't be so negative in the eyes of Bureaucrats.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Great thoughts! Just one rule: don't risk more than you mind losing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I find your current strategy very reasonable, @hilarski, as well as the selection of your preferred coins.
I am staying away from ICO's. A large majority of my crypto holdings are in Bitcoin and now I'm growing my portfolio by regularly investing in Ether, Dash, Monero and ZCash, while earning STEEM on this platform.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Sounds like a safe plan to me. It is essentially what I am doing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I was reflecting on this recently Randy. I wasn't sure of how to proceed. But the fact that you are standing for the same considerations makes me feel more secure, thank you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You can trade all day and be further ahead and still have control of your funds. Giving someone control over my BTC or Ethereum is not a good feeling.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"If you are purely joining an ICO to speculate on the price of the token, the day it opens for trading, you might be disappointed."
This is a wise and true statement. I had thought to participate in a few ICO's, with the idea that I would be able to turn a quick profit. And you are so right.
"I would be better off trading my Bitcoin on the markets."
Absolutely. The only ICO am currently involved in is Particle. And that was mainly because I had quite a few SDC sitting around and didn't realize the price was crashing to nothingness.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Waiting for EOS auction, it looks promising and not an ICO model. Good article.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Seem to me that, these days, crypto makes the world go round! Have a low risk appetite and Invest almost you can afford to lose. That's my philosophy.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Nicely put. I'm sick of hearing about ICOs and the controversy, and for that reason I've kind of just put them out of my head and stuck to trading. Not the smartest strategy I know but it is a simple one ;-)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
If you want so support as crowdfunding and hold coins for years, try this one https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@aivanouski/ecobit-ico-invest-for-greener-future-first-nem-xem-token
Invest in green future.
Not for speculation!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
great article ,high five :)
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Polybius ICO is live right now. Have you seen this?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Very good blog. Interesting to see I'm not the only one that is thinking about this. I've been asking myself. How many people really do a proper background check before seriously investing in an ICO? I was wondering if anyone of you uses: https://www.coincheckup.com If you want to know more about the: team, product, communication transparency, advisors and investment statistics on every crypto then this is your go to platform.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I thought U.S Citizens couldn't buy into ICO. Thanx for writing about other ways people would engage into ICO in 2016. I recently started hearing about ICO creeping up in conversations from techies this week.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Did you HODL Digibyte? I SODL a while back :'( I feel my strategy should be HODL everything until the bitter end
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This I think fits into your discussion on the crypto markets.
I have been sharing this info on something not widely known/talked about, crytpo related stocks. For me , just another opportunity to capitalize on this new and exciting paradigm. They are currently trading for pennies.
The stocks I think, give that still large segment of people who are not ready to learn about crytpos and exchanges, but have been on the sidelines hearing about all the excitement and gains, the opportunity to get on board this earth shaking crypto move, but within their own comfort zone by simply buying a stock that is related to bitcoin.
Most of these people already have a stock account they know how to use and in this way can participate easily. There are very few crypto stocks so these are already starting to skyrocket just in the last couple of days but may present an very unique opportunity. As a warning, there is not really a ton of info about them so use risk capital only!
I have put some money into them in just the last 1-2 days, already up significantly which means they may skyrocket further, or pull back hard, I do not think anybody can predict. Dollar cost averaging is probably the best way to enter at this point as they are just moving so fast now and price points could be anywhere next week. Anyways, I thought I would share, fwiw.
Here is a link with some of the info on 2 of the stocks crypto stocks that I just put together for myself and others as a starting point for due diligence.
https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@motowngold/global-arena-holding-inc-gahc-another-rare-bitcoin-and-blockchain-stock
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I like to have 100% control over my money so I won't participate but I see how others would like them.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I agree, they are not for everybody, but for some, they may be the only way to participate, by buying a stock, something they are used to doing all their lives.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
very good post......!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
thanks for sharing
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As always great information. Thank you for your insight.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Hi @hilarski! Now is a frenzy time for the ICO's, the better example of BAT ICO, it only took 35 seconds to finished the crowdsale ... and the distribution of buyers is just absurd ...
I know it is a theme to another post but what do you think about the new rally of bitcoin? Another bubble?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
No such thing as a bubble in my eyes just over bought and then we correct. The cycle will keep repeating but we have been in an overall uptrend since 2010.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting. The only ICO that I have been remotely interested in was PeerPlays.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I have had friends speak highly of it.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I recently invested in the Mobilego ico. I received a 10% discount for exchanging my Gamecredits credits for Mobilego tokens. I also received some Incent tokens for free. The tokens are not on any exchange yet so I am still waiting to see how they perform.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Interesting thoughts. Very excited about Status ICO upcoming this month and very surprised it was not mentioned here. Great team and community behind the project and Status team is trying to resolve the whales-take-all scenario going on atm..
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Thanks for the good information. I look forward to your posts and insight!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit