The past couple of weeks have been quite hectic. With the Swiss FINMA changing its guidelines for ICO’s, we’ve had our plates full trying to get everything ready to comply with regulations.

Now that we’ve been able to finalize all the necessary requirements, I’m very excited to share this update with you. Especially because I have two major announcements today:

When our ICO will go live

We’ve reached the softcap of our project!

Let’s dig into the details, starting with the most exciting news.

Grain reaches its soft cap 🎉

When we closed the public presale with 2578 ETH last month, there were still a few private investors we were in discussions with. So amidst the hecticness of postponing our ICO, we’ve also been negotiating with this group of investors that wanted to contribute more than 200 ETH each.

I’m happy to announce that we have collected the equivalent of 2335 ETH from this group of investors, bringing the current total amount raised to 4913 ETH.

Since the soft cap of our project is 4000 ETH, we’re 100% certain that the project will go through. So that’s not only good news for us, but also for our community and everyone involved.

The ICO: dates + guidelines

The second announcement is that we’re ready to go live with our ICO. Now that we fully comply with the Swiss regulations, the public token sale will start on Monday, April 16th. And it will run until Monday, May 7th.

ICO details

Start date: Monday April 16th

End date: Monday May 7th

Price of a GRAIN token: 0.000037 ETH (27000 GRAIN / 1 ETH)

Minimum individual contribution: 0.5 ETH

Maximum individual contribution: 120 ETH

Excluded countries: The token sale is closed for residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Cuba, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine — Crimea region, United States, Vanuatu and Yemen

How to participate

The steps to participate in the Grain ICO are easy:

Step #1: Create your account

To be able to participate in the ICO, you will need a personal account.

If you’ve already created one before during the presale, you will be able to use that same account.

Step #2: Configure your wallet

On your dashboard, you will be asked to enter the ETH address that we can send your GRAIN tokens to after you’ve contributed.

Please use the same address as the one you’ll use to deposit your contribution. That way, our system can automatically recognize your contribution and attribute it to you.

Step#3: Start the identity verification process (KYC)

To comply with regulations, we need to verify your identity. Click the ‘Enter KYC details’ button to start the process.

You will be asked to submit your details, like:

First name

Last name

Gender

Address

City

Phone number

Date of birth

Step #4: Deposit your contribution

Once you’ve configured your wallet, you can deposit your contribution. The address you can use to transfer your contribution to will be shown on your dashboard.

Remember that the minimum contribution for the ICO is 0.5 ETH.

At any time, your dashboard will indicate how much your deposit has been and how many bonus tokens you’ve earned.

Note: Don’t send your contribution directly from an exchange. The best way to participate is to first create an Ethereum wallet on https://www.myetherwallet.com/ (or any other ERC-20 wallet) and send your ETH to us from there.

Step #5: Finalize the KYC process

After we’ve received your contribution, you’ll be asked to complete the final steps of the KYC process. Besides the preliminary details you’ve already entered in step #3, there are just a few extra details we require to comply with regulations.

You will be taken to a third party provider to complete the verification. This process is quite straightforward, but if you’d need help with anything, you can always contact us at tokensale@grain.io.

One of the regulatory requirements is that you need to fulfil this step within two weeks of transferring your participation contribution to us. Failure to pass the KYC process will result in disqualification from the token sale. In this event, any funds you may have contributed will be returned directly to your personal ETH address.

Step #6: Receive your GRAIN tokens

By depositing your contribution and passing the KYC successfully, you’ve done all the necessary steps to participate in the token sale.

After the token sale has ended, your GRAIN tokens will be automatically deposited to the wallet you’ve entered in step #2.

Step #7: Refer a friend and get a 5% bonus

Finally, you can get an extra bonus for telling your friends about Grain. On your dashboard, you’ll find a referral link that your friends and network can use to create an account and get a 5% bonus. In return, you’ll receive 5% of their contribution.

Note: The referral bonuses are not cumulative with other bonuses that are offered during the first week of the ICO: When someone registers through your referral link and makes a contribution any time during the first week of the ICO, you will still get a 5% bonus for their contribution. However, that person will only receive the general bonus that is applicable on that day.

You can find more information about the referral program in this article.

Bonus structure

Just as during the presale, we’re offering a bonus structure for contributions made during the token sale.

This time, the bonus declines progressively and depends on when you participate:

The first 48 hours (April 16–17th): 10% bonus

The next 5 days (April 18–22nd): 5% bonus

Webinar #4

In light of this announcement, we’ve also recorded a new webinar. You can find the video here: