Australian Investors Seek ICO Exposure

Initial Coin Offerings are attracting investment from ordinary Australians, with a recent report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation describing the experiences of many investors actively trading the ICO markets.

Warren Stokes, a 58-year-old casual crypto investor, recounts being introduced to the world of cryptocurrencies when his high school-aged son began receiving postal bags filled with $50 notes in the mail approximately seven years ago. “He explained to me he was on a group on Reddit,” Mr. Stokes said, “1,000 people were joining their computers together to mine, […] honestly, I had no idea what he was talking about.”

Risks Posed to New Investors
Alex Saunders, a Youtuber who has covered the cryptocurrency markets since 2012, has indicated that some ICO investors are gaining exposure using borrowed money, stating “I’ve heard people are taking out money on their home loans to get into cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, there are lots of people in this space and this is their first investing experience so they’ve been burnt once or twice and they’re learning that the hard way.”

Forty-year-old Australian, Neil, has invested in roughly nine ICOs so far. Neil attests to having had mixed experiences with initial coin offerings, stating “With the number of scammers out there who have made really high-quality fake websites and fake LinkedIn profiles … it’s actually very difficult to know what’s true and what’s not.” Neil stated his belief that the recent frenzy surrounding ICOs may now be dying down, stating that initial coin offerings now must prove their value as a genuine financial tool.

For Mr. Stokes, many of the losses incurred by new traders are the consequence of the inexperience with the psychology induced by trading. “Some people who don’t know how to ride out a drop have sold out at the bottom,” he said. “There will be a lot of people who will panic and lose their money.”