ICOs for Dummies, & Not in China

ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) have taken the startup funding world by storm — to the tune of $1.78 Billion — but not all governments are keen on allowing this much business activity to function outside of their central currency. Most notably, China’s central bank announced on its website that ICOs are now illegal.

Graph via Coindesk ICO Tracker

On Hacker Noon, Ananas Co-Founder Emad Mostaque argued that China was right to clamp down on ICOs as ethics and regulations have not kept up with the high growth of ICOs, and ultimately he thinks, “we can expect the ban to be lifted soon and guidelines put in place.”

But we shall see… In a “Brief Analysis of China’s Ban on ICOs,” Lightyear.io Counsel & Program Manager Lindsay X. Lin details the short and long term effects of this decision. She concludes, “China’s statement on ICOs was a strong, decisive move towards greater consumer protection, greater monetary control, and more effective anti-money-laundering processes.”

Things will probably heat up before they cool down as Hong Kong’s Security and Futures Commission Executive Director of Intermediaries Ms Julia Leung released this statement today, “Those involved in an ICO need to be aware that some ICO structures may be subject to Hong Kong securities laws.”

For more about about ICO & security relations in America, read Andrew J. Chapin’s benjaCoin’s live ICO journey, and his most notably story to date: “The SEC Called About Our ICO, I Answered.”

CNBC reported, “The amount of money raised by cryptocurrency and blockchain start-ups via so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) has surpassed early stage venture capital (VC) funding for internet companies for the past two months.”

Ouriel Ohayon recently penned a great primer on ICOs from the perspective of an early stage venture capitalist: “ICOs for Dummies (like me).” It’s a great read for solidifying your ICO foundational knowledge AND seeing how a venture capitalist approaches this new funding phenomenon.

When determining whether you should participate in an ICO, consider SkillShare CEO Michael Karnjanaprakorn’s 7 Ts Framework: Thesis, Token Network Effects, Team & Leadership, Technology & Developer Ecosystem, Transparency & Trust, Traction & Roadmap, and Terms & Legal.

For more on the INTERNET’s impact on CURRENCY, check out the latest stories on our sister publication Keeping Stock, as well as our collections on Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies, Money, and of course, ICOs.

Sometimes when I hear, “ICO, ICO, ICO,” I think, “Iko Iko un-dayJock-a-mo fee-no ai na-né.” It’s a colloquial reminder, when something really starts trending in the tech industry, it’s good to take a step back and listen to some music...

5 Must Read Tech Stories This Week That Have Nothing to Do With ICOs:

• “For the love of God, please tell me what your company does” by Carpe Lotion Co-founder Kasper Kubica. Great take on implications of publishing aspirational bullsh*t on your website, and a clear argument for how to be direct about what your company does.
• “Why SuperIntelligent AI Will Kick Ass” by Daniel Jeffries. A strong argument that AI will be a stronger force for good than evil as a response to this mindset: “Humans love huge, flashy threats. We’re seriously awesome at ignoring real problems in favor of big, crazy ones. The bigger and crazier the better! Now we have super-AI, the mother of all problems.”
• “Why I owned a Macbook Pro for a day — and what it says to me about the future of Apple” by MD of The Alcohol-Free Shop John Risby. This story goes into the underbelly of Apple’s customer ‘experience’ and return policy. It begins with “On Saturday I bought a new Macbook Pro with touch bar. And on Sunday I returned it. The only surprising part of this is the fact I returned it so soon.”
• “It’s OK to not use Yarn” by David Gilbertson. In his own wise words, “Much like artichokes, this post is not for everyone. It’s for the developer using Node 8 (which comes with npm 5). The developer who has not read the Yarn and npm docs (you fools with your ‘social lives’). The developer who has heard about Yarn, seen it popping up in more and more places, and who has begun to think that they ‘should’ be using it.”
• “How to Price Yourself as a Freelance Developer” by Freelance Developer & Maker of Inkdrop Takuya Matsuyama. Great guide for walking through the levers of how to structure deals between high growth startups and top notch freelance developers.

Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted.

Kind Regards,

David Smooke, @ AMI

P.S. ICYMI — check out our company’s origin story.