It’s been six months since the Bancor ICO in which the startup raised a landmark USD 153 million. The BNT coin hasn’t been able to maintain its value post-ICO, but things are looking up. The Bancor Network on which users can trade tokens directly is now live, and the BNT price jumped more than 27% in celebration.

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The double-digit percentage gain in the Bancor coin price is impressive, and BNT is now trading at USD 3.50. But at its peak, the Bancor price was higher than USD 23, so it is currently trading from a lower base. The company’s ability to deliver on a live platform in just six months is an encouraging sign, and investors are no doubt rewarding the startup for moving forward.

Bancor is behind a protocol that they deem a standard for creating smart tokens, which are “cryptocurrencies with built-in convertibility directly through their smart contracts,” according to the company’s blog. In the six months since the Bancor ICO, the company has been developing new features for the platform, including a tool that automatically calculates prices of cryptocurrencies on its platform. They’ve added dozens of projects to their network and have nearly a dozen active tokens that can be converted on the platform.

ICO Connection

Bancor was one of the blockbuster ICOs of 2017, having raised USD 153 million on the Ethereum network in a few short hours. Another company that had a similar success right out of the gate was Tezos. Something else both companies have in common is that they are linked to foundations — the Brotocol Foundation, which is designed to support the development and adoption of the Bancor protocol, and the Tezos Foundation, which was similarly created to support the Tezos blockchain project.

Both startups have had their share of headwinds — for Bancor the sharp decline in the coin’s price and skepticism surrounding the relevance of its technology and for Tezos the infighting among management. But at least Bancor has proven that is is moving forward with development of its protocol while Tezos has been going in reverse after raising USD 132 million.