Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) still represent one of the numerous ways investors can explore the financial freedom of cryptocurrency. It provides an opportunity for investors to tap early into a potential crypto project. Without a doubt, almost every crypto investor would not want to miss out on the next big thing in the industry. But how do you know about an ICO? or Have insights into important details about it? ICO calendars to the rescue!
Initial Coin Offering Calendars are platforms that list upcoming ICOs. These platforms provide every needed detail about impending Initial Coin Offerings, ensuring that investors have comprehensive details about these projects. To an extent, one can liken an ICO Calendar to a window that illuminates the potential of a new cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, Initial Coin Offerings shouldn’t be mistaken for Initial Public Offerings (IPO). It is safe to say that ICO is to cryptocurrency what IPO is to the traditional financial market. On the flip side, private companies use IPO to list their shares on a stock exchange, making them available to the general public for purchase.
In the crypto landscape, project teams use ICO as a vehicle for gathering more capital by availing the yet-to-be-launched token for public sale. So, how do you connect investors and the project team? This is where ICO calendars come in.
Similarly, crypto presale is another marketing endeavor that aids the launching of a crypto project. In most cases, presale precedes ICOs, and they both provide an avenue for raising capital.
What are ICO calendars?
It is safe to say that ICO calendars are like centralized data pools that provide important information like the duration of an offering. These platforms work like aggregators that gather information about an upcoming coin offering. ICO calendars operate similarly to cryptocurrency aggregators, only that the latter focuses mainly on the prices of crypto assets.
Furthermore, ICO calendars indicate the motive of the project, the target amount of the coin offering, and a host of necessary details about it. Therefore, ICO calendars through the details they provide assist investors to make informed decisions.
Background Check To The History Of ICO Calendars
According to findings, reports are pointing to Smith + Crown as the first ICO calendar ever. The platform operates as a cryptocurrency research and consulting firm. As revealed, Smith + Crown has been in existence since 2016 during a period when ICOs were quite unpopular. However, the platform didn’t witness the launching of the first ICO organized by Mastercoin.
In 2014, Ethereum raised funds for its project by availing the token for public sale. The exercise recorded a return of $18.3 million worth of investment. Ever since, ICO has gained relevance and by 2017, it has already become a regular practice in the crypto landscape. The increased adoption of coin offerings led to the emergence of more ICO calendars. By the middle of the year, there were already 18 ICO calendars and Smith + Crown predates most of them.
As revealed by Statista, the amount raised by ICOs reached its peak in the Q1 of 2018. During that period, crypto and blockchain projects raised about $6.88 billion. Luckily, the dependence on ICO calendars gained more ground in January 2018 when Facebook placed a ban on advertisements for ICOs on its platform. Thereon, ICO calendars matured into essential tools for crypto investors and project developers.
Despite attaining huge prominence during that period, the usage of ICO has declined ever since. Although, project teams still consider the fundraising effort as an avenue for kickstarting their projects, which makes ICO calendars remain relevant. Nonetheless, the availability of other means of raising funds in the crypto space has shifted attention from ICO a bit. Therefore, resulting in the gradual decline of ICO.
Advantages of ICO Calendars
One of the foremost advantages of ICO calendars is that they serve as a central pool of information. Consequently, they provide a pathway for investors to access information about upcoming ICOs. With their support, investors find it easier to stay up-to-date about the latest projects and available investment opportunities.
Likewise, they serve as educational platforms for investors. ICO calendars aid investors in understanding the idea of a project, the team behind it, and its potential. Thus, it support investors to make strategic and informed decisions.
Disadvantages
Meanwhile, ICO calendars are not entirely perfect, they have their shortcomings too. ICO calendars do not entirely cover every project. This indicates that relying on a single calendar can prove costly for investors.
So, it is advisable for investors to use about 3-5 ICO calendars to stay updated. Also, listing on ICO calendars can be biased as some project teams, even the mischievous ones, can pay to get listed.
Similarly, provided details about a crypto can be biased and incomplete too. The inadequate information can mislead investors into believing what is not. To an extent, details about an ICO can sometimes be a marketing strategy for promoting such a project; either good or bad.
Conclusion
At the stage in the crypto market where new projects keep flooding it on a daily basis, it is essential to employ the services of ICO calendars. On the good side, these platforms will help investors keep up with new crypto projects. Nonetheless, one must be careful to a reasonable extent when using these fundamental tools.
It is important to approach every ICO calendar with careful thought. Project teams; both the good and the bad actors now promote their respective initiatives through ICO calendars. Therefore, every investor must do well to carry out independent research on any ICO, and the team behind it.
