Home » ICO
Tag:

ICO

Top cryptocurrency initial coin offerings (ICO).

Paying with cryptocurrencies; What are the major companies that accept crypto?

by crypstorm

Nowadays, the news about cryptocurrencies is everywhere, and anyone in the world knows 

about them. Recently Bitcoin hit its record, reaching $60.000. Therefore, it is not surprising that one of the world’s wealthiest people – Elon Musk,  keeps investing billions in crypto.

Crypto trading has become more and more widespread. However, the options for using cryptocurrencies are not as broad as the traditional currencies because of their unstableness. Still, day by day, more and more large companies use cryptocurrencies in various industries. Customers can use cryptocurrencies as a legal payment method for goods and services. Now, some of the largest and most worldwide-known companies accept cryptocurrencies. So, if you are thrilled to learn about  some companies that can make your life easier as a cryptocurrency user, you are in the right place at the right time. Below you can find a list of the 9 largest companies that boiled down to allowing their customers to pay with cryptos.   

Coca-Cola

Amatil, a leading beverage bottler and distributor of the Asia-Pacific region, has enabled cryptocurrencies as a payment method through a partnership with the Centrapay platform. As of 2020, Australia and New Zealand have more than 2,000 vending machines that accept crypto for drink payments.

Amazon

Earlier this year, the world was informed that Amazon was joining the ranks of other tech giants, including Facebook, laying the foundation for its exclusive cryptocurrency. Amazon doesn’t accept cryptocurrencies directly yet. However, the buyers can purchase Amazon coupons through Bitrefill, a cryptocurrency platform. It is a platform that makes life easier with cryptocurrencies. This platform allows its users to  convert Bitcoin into gift cards and refill their phones.

Starbucks

After a thorough experiment, Starbucks customers can use the new Bakkt app to pay for drinks and other goods on the coffee chain using converted Bitcoin. According to the app’s creator, 500,000 people have embraced an invitation-only early access program to test digital wallets as a payment method.

Mastercard

In November, Mastercard announced that network partners could allow consumers to buy, sell and retain cryptocurrencies through their digital wallets and reward them in digital currencies as part of their loyalty program. 

The credit card giant will cooperate with Bakkt Holdings Inc, a digital assets platform, to provide its customers with the new crypto services.

Visa

At the end of March, credit card company Visa confirmed that it was planning a pilot project to use Crypto.com to accept cryptocurrencies to process transactions in its payment network. They are now accepting USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin crypto that is fixed at the US dollar value.

Microsoft

It is significant for cryptocurrencies’ reputations that a large software company like Microsoft accepts Bitcoin payments. To some extent, it can inspire confidence in cryptocurrency users. The users can utilize Bitcoin to pay for many services such as Xbox Live and Skype. Moreover, that’s not the only interest the company has in cryptocurrency. At the end of March, Microsoft also used blockchain to launch ION, a two-tier authentication platform on the Bitcoin network. Instead of making payments, this technology creates digital IDs to authenticate online identities.

Tesla

Earlier this year, the company initially announced that it would accept Bitcoin payments for vehicle purchases in the United States. It is due to Elon Musk’s investment of $ 1.5 billion in cryptocurrencies in February. However, things have changed, and now Tesla will put Bitcoin transactions on hold until more than 50% of the tokens are mined with renewable energy.

Pavilion Hotels & Resorts

Hong Kong-based Pavilion Hotels & Resorts Group is the first international hotel chain to accept cryptocurrency payments. The hotel group owns properties in Amsterdam, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, Bali, and Phuket. Since July, it has begun accepting reservations with 40 different tokens, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, in partnership with the Coindirect payment platform.

LOT Polish Airlines

In 2015, LOT Polish Airlines said it would accept Bitcoin as a flight payment method. Six years after the decision, LOT is one of the few European airlines to allow cryptocurrencies as a payment option.

Coin Race of November: Exchange Tokens Up, Bitcoin, Meme Coins Down

by crypstorm

It’s December 1, and this monthly coin race shows that November was a mixed bag for the crypto market. Compared to October, the entire market lost last month due to the loss of smart contract platform tokens such as Bitcoin (BTC),Polkadot (DOT), Cardano (ADA), and the two most essential meme coins. Performance has deteriorated much. Bitcoin saw a noticeable fix during the month. Some investors also ended the month far from the closing price of $ 98,000 predicted for November  by a renowned Bitcoin analyst, Plan B.

Top 10 coins in November

Some coins worked much better than others. The top 10 coins by market capitalization showed different performances in November. Bitcoin reached a record high of about $ 69,000 on November 10. However, it has fallen by more than 20% since then, reducing some of its recent losses. For now, BTC is just under 18% below its highs and is trading at around $ 57,000.

As for the other significant coins that suffered last month, the recent trend meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE) was hit hardest by selling pressure. The original meme coin was competing with the Shiba Inu (SHIB) for meme coin dominance. It dropped 21% a month after failing to reach record highs in August and October. Following DOGE, Cardano’s ADA token lost almost 20%, the second-lowest performing this month on the top 10 list. Tokens have been steadily declining since reaching a record high of $ 3.1 on September 2, almost 50% below that level. The coins that performed well in November, Binance coins (BNB), stand out among the excellent cryptography. Binance’s stock exchange tokens rose more than 20% during the month to a price of $ 633, not far from the consistently high of just over $ 690 on May 10.

Best from the top 50 in November

Expanding the range to cover the most valuable 50 coins by market capitalization, many of November’s best performances were small-cap coins that weren’t the largest. The best of the group was GALA, a token issued by the blockchain gaming company Gala Games. Tokens experienced a significant recovery in the second half of November, increasing by almost 700% in two weeks. The rally took place amid rising bullish movements in the cryptocurrency game and Metaverse sector. In the same broad category as GALA, the Metaverse Token was the great Sandbox (SAND) with a monthly profit of over $ 300% and $ 6.75. Nevertheless, the current price is still below the record high of $ 8.49 for the token hit on November 25. MANA, the token used in Decentraland’s virtual world, rose nearly 69% to trade at $ 4.58.

Worst from the top 50 in November

Moving to the worst-performing of the top 50 coins ranked by market capitalization we should note that this month the numbers were more green than red. However, many coins suffered in November. The top three coins with the best performance in the top 50 rose 553%, 303%, and 238%, respectively, while the three worst-performing coins lost 34%, 26%, and 21%. The group of coins Cosmos (ATOM) lost nearly 26% in a month. The currency has fallen almost 40% from its record high of $ 44.80 on the 20th of September, trading at $ 27.63. Among the other notable coins that suffered losses, Fantom (FTM) could also be mentioned, with the currency dropping more than 21% in a month to a price of $ 2.17. However, it is worth noting that FTM saw significant increases in August, September, and October before November. In addition, the Decentralized Application Platform (Dapp) Near Protocol’s NEAR token stood out as one of the major losers in November after a record high of $ 13.2 in October. Currently, tokes are about 35% below this level. On the other hand, as mentioned above, meme coins such as DOGE and SHIB also stood out as part of the biggest losers in November.

Winners & losers from the top 100 & 200

If you zoom in further and look at the 100 most valuable coins by market capitalization, you can see that some coins more than doubled in price last month, further boosting the best performing GALA. For other coins that have not yet been discussed, the Decentralized Exchange (DEX) Token Loop (LRC) stood out with an increase of almost 336%, while the crypto.com coin (CRO) was well above 200%. In addition, AVAX tokens from Avalanche, a smart contracting platform that attracted attention to Ethereum at a high price this year, rose almost 100% last month.

 Finally, let’s look at the movement of small, little-known coins in the top 200 ranked by market capitalization. Here, CEEK, the token used in the virtual reality platform of the same name, has risen to a whopping 722nd place, moving from a record high to another high on a nearly vertical line. The worst-performing one of the top 200 coins in November was SafeMoon, a coin that ironically promises to “take the owner safely to the moon.” Now, the currency is trading at $ 0.000002, lower by about 55% than it was in November.

What is an IEO?

by crypstorm

What Is an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO)?

Initial Exchange Offering is a process that is happening on a platform of a cryptocurrency exchange. Some IEOs may be on multiple exchanges, but mainly, IEOs are only available to exchange users. Like ICOs, IEOs allow investors to receive new cryptocurrencies (or tokens) while raising funds for promising crypto projects. However, ICOs have become less popular in recent years, while many crypto projects are starting to raise money through the initial exchange offering. Token sales are going on in exchange platforms. Therefore, token issuers must pay a listing fee and the percentage of tokens they sold during the IEO. In return, token issuers will sell crypto startup tokens on the exchange platform. They will have their coins listed after the IEO is complete. Cryptocurrency exchanges make up a certain percentage of the tokens sold by startups. Thus, exchanges have to support the marketing activities of token issuers.

Characteristics of Initial Exchange Offerings

Like the ICO, the initial exchange offering offers a limited number of coins at a fixed price. Restrictions exist on purchasing minimum and maximum tokens per user, soft and hard caps, and a dedicated accepted cryptocurrency.

However, in contrast to ICO tokens, IEO coins are coined before the crowd sale. In addition, it will be more convenient for investors to access the exchange days or weeks after the IEO (immediate liquidity). The IEO process involves an intermediary to control the funds. It also helps increase investor confidence in projects that most ICOs lack.

Pros and Cons of Initial Exchange Offerings

As with any of the offerings, the initial exchange offering also has advantages and disadvantages. To start with the benefits, they are as follows;

  1. Investors feel more sure. Seeing a digital asset token sale on a crypto exchange they trust can give a project more legitimacy.
  2. Benefits for the projects. Increased marketing activity through exchanges, increased credibility, awareness, and interest in the project.  
  3. Removal of scams. The IEO project teams are not fake or incognito; thus, they won’t disappear after receiving the funds.

The disadvantages of the initial exchange offerings are;

  1. Not clear regulations/restrictions. Many countries have partially restricted or fully banned ICOs, and to some extent, it may affect IEOs as well.
  2. Crypto projects must pay listing fees. Moreover, they will have to pay percentages from the tokens they sold. 
  3. A limited number of investors.  Many investors complain that because of a limited quantity of investors, not everyone manages to get tokens during IEOs.

Statistics

The Binance Launchpad and the newly introduced Launchpool are platforms for the Binance ecosystem that help projects remove tokens from the ground. We provide full-service advice from pre-launch to post-listing to marketing support. These aim to help project teams focus on product development and construction while providing an initial marketing exposure and user base. 

By August 2021, Binance Launchpad raised more than $ 96 million in 48 projects with more than 1.8 million participants. The benefits of launching with Binance include:

  • Exposure to millions of Binance users worldwide.
  • Strong liquidity in multiple pairs.
  • Token distribution to a broad user base.
  • A future with Binance ecosystem projects.
Conclusion

Initial Exchange Offering is a process that is happening on a platform of a cryptocurrency exchange. Alike the ICO, the initial exchange offering offers a limited number of coins at a fixed price. Nevertheless, in contrast to ICO tokens, IEO coins are coined before the crowd sale. As for the investors, IEO is a more trustworthy and convenient process, moreover, it has far more benefits than an ICO.

What is a STO?

by crypstorm

A security token offering (STO) is a public offering in which tokenized digital securities – security tokens, are sold in security token exchanges. It is a unique token on a permitted or permissionless blockchain, demonstrating a stake in an external asset or business. Like the initial coin offering (ICO), an investor gets a crypto coin or token which shows their investment. Unlike an ICO, an STO represents an investment contract into an underlying investment asset, such as stocks, bonds, funds, and real estate investment trusts (REIT). Because STO overlaps with these two investment financing methods, it is also a hybrid approach between cryptocurrency ICOs and traditional IPOs.

What Is the Difference Between an ICO and STO?

ICOs and STOs follow the same process; however, the token characteristics are different. ICOs and STOs represent the initial issue of coins associated with a particular investment mechanism. They differ in the features of the tokens.

STOs are asset-backed, while most ICOs are utility tokens that give users access to the native platform or decentralized applications (DApps). The aim of ICO coins is the usage and not the investment. As a result, ICO platforms avoid particular legal frameworks and do not have to register or correspond to the strict governance of managerial bodies.

The aim of ICO coins is the usage and not the investment. As a result, ICO platforms avoid particular legal frameworks and do not have to register or correspond to the strict governance of managerial bodies.

Launching an ICO is much easier than running an STO because there is no need to do all the upfront compliance work when launching an ICO.

How Do Security Tokens Work?

Security tokens are for raising money for a startup or a business. In raising capital for startups or established companies, the STO is a logical continuation of the concept behind ICOs and IPOs. Security tokens are also helpful for tokenizing or securitizing existing real-world assets. The process of tokenizing of real-world assets represents another potential opportunity for security tokens.

Global stocks’ value is at around $ 70 trillion, and real estate assets are over $ 230 trillion ($ 180 trillion for residential real estate, $ 32 trillion for commercial real estate, and the rest for agricultural real estate). These stocks form the basis of security tokens and develop the market just under development in 2018.

The large-scale introduction of security tokens will replace much of the current paperwork in securities trading. Security tokens minimize the overall cost of managing today’s financial system. If security tokens have large numbers on the stock market, the world can save up to $ 6 billion annually on paper-based economic systems.

What makes an STO so beneficial for businesses?

1.           Global capital access

2.           New techniques to market products and services

3.           More favorable conditions

4.           Low entry charges for investors

5.           Prices are hundreds of times cheaper for the issuers

6.           Opportunities that go ahead the field of the usual security

Statistics

The study for STOs shows that the amount of Security Token Offerings rose from 35 in 2018 to 55 in 2019, with the finance and banking sector holding the most projects. The total funding raised grew to $452 million in 2019.

Another statistic shows that from 2019-2030, the Security Token Offering Space will have growth at a CAGR of 59%, following the institutionalization of the digital assets ecosystem around 2025. Even though there are distinctions in the stats, various analyses guide in a likewise direction. The tokenization of assets and consequently the Security Token Offerings market will experience a rapid increase in the next years.

Conclusion

A security token offering (STO) is a public offering that sells security tokens in security token exchanges. It is a unique token on a permitted or permissionless blockchain, representing a stake in an external asset or company.

Unlike launching an ICO, launching an STO is a complicated process. However, they follow a similar procedure, but their tokens have different features.

Security tokens are mainly for raising money for a business or a startup. They have many benefits for companies, such as low entry costs for investors, better conditions, new methods for market products and services, and so forth.

What is an ICO?

by crypstorm

ICO – Initial Coin Offering is an acronym that shows how funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency offering. ICO trading platforms are created for investors; they receive the unique cryptocurrency called “tokens” in exchange for their monetary investment in the business. It is a means of crowdfunding in which a digital token is created and sold to raise funds for a project’s development. These tokens are unique because they serve in funding open-source software projects that would otherwise be difficult to fund through standard methods.

The Creation of ICOs

An initial coin offering is a complex procedure that involves a thorough understanding of technology, finance, and the law.  The fundamental idea behind ICOs is to use blockchain technology’s autonomous networks in capital-raising operations to align the interests of different stakeholders. The four steps of creation an ICO are as follows:

1.     Identification of investment targets

Any ICO begins with a company’s idea to increase capital. The company determines the fundraising campaign’s target goals and prepares the necessary materials for potential investors to learn more about the company or project.

2.     Creation of tokens

The production of tokens is the next step in the initial coin offering. The tokens are blockchain representations of an item or function. The tokens are tradeable and fungible. Because the tokens are simply modifications of already existing cryptocurrencies, they should not be confused with cryptocurrencies. Tokens, unlike stocks, do not typically provide an equity stake in a corporation. Instead, the majority of the tokens provide their owners with a share in a company-created product or service. 

The tokens are created via specified blockchain platforms. Because a corporation does not have to create a new code, the process of creating tokens is relatively simple.

3.     Promotion campaign

At the same time, when implementing the previous step, usually, a company begins advertisement to involve investors. Mostly the campaigns are run online in order to reach the widest number of investors. 

4.     Initial offering                                       

In the last step, the tokens are proposed to the investors, and mainly the process of offering consists of several steps. The company can then use the proceeds from the ICO to launch a new product or service. At the same time, the investors can expect to use the acquired tokens to benefit from this product/service or wait to appreciate the tokens’ value.

Statistics

Despite the fact that ICOs aren’t regulated, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can intervene. For instance, the maker of Telegram raised $1.7 billion in an ICO in 2018 and 2019, but the SEC filed an emergency action and obtained a temporary restraining order. This order was obtained due to alleged illegal activity on the part of the development team. In March 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a preliminary injunction. After that Telegram had to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay a civil penalty of $18.5 million. 

Conclusion

ICOs are unique icons created and offered to investors in four thorough steps.

  1. Identification of investment targets
  2. Creation of tokens
  3. Promotion campaign
  4. Initial offering. 

ICOs are unique because they function in funding open-source software projects. These kind of projects would otherwise be difficult to fund through standard methods.

Cryptocurrency airdrop is a smart marketing strategy aimed at promoting new cryptocurrencies. This is typically done by sending small amounts of newly emerging cryptocurrencies to the members of the community. People normally receive them for free or in return for a small service. For instance, community is should share or retweet posts sent by those companies to raise awareness about the virtual coins. 

So, this is a purely promotional activity to boost the newly emerging virtual currencies that enter the market. Such actions are initiated both on the very websites of those companies and other crypto-related platforms.