When did the first initial coin offering occur?
July 2013 marked the birth of a new financial instrument when Mastercoin held its first token sale. This event laid the groundwork for what would become known as an initial coin offering.
July 2013 marked the birth of a new financial instrument when Mastercoin held its first token sale. This event laid the groundwork for what would become known as an initial coin offering.
Filecoin became the highest-grossing ICO by January 2018, raising $257 million with $200 million coming within the first hour. Despite these numbers, fewer than half of all ICOs survived four months after the offering.
The SEC charged Maksim Zaslavskiy for fraud in September 2017 regarding RECoin and DRC World ICOs. Zaslavskiy pleaded guilty in November 2018 to charges carrying up to five years imprisonment.
On the 4th of September 2017, seven Chinese financial regulators officially banned all ICOs within China. South Korea prohibited ICOs in September 2017 promising stern penalties for violations.
the 30th of January 2018 saw Facebook ban advertisements for ICOs as well as for cryptocurrencies and binary options. Facebook reversed course on the 26th of June 2018 announcing they would reopen for approved advertisers only.
Ethereum remained the leading blockchain platform for ICOs with over 80% market share as of February 2018. Tokens generally based on the Ethereum ERC-20 standard continued to dominate early fundraising efforts.