If you have been following the evolution of how new crypto projects are crowdfunding then you will undoubtedly have heard the term IEO. The abbreviation stands for Initial Exchange Offering, and as the name implicates, it is the process of starting your token sale on a crypto exchange.

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The Great Centralized Exchange Launchpad Race

Of course it did not take long for most major centralized exchanges to have latched onto this idea - I mean it has amazing business potential for them & gives their exchange token an extra usecase. They have all made up different sets of rules around needing to hold their exchange token to participate in an IEO and that, of course, holding more of their tokens gives you more benefits when choosing to participate. As is all too usual for these platforms it has simply became a race to chase down money by any means necessary and control another aspect of the industry.

Live Exchange Launchpad $$$ Race

They have all been busy launching whole platforms to support the process: Binance Launchpad, Bitmax Launchpad, Bittrex IEO, Huobi Prime, Kucoin Spotlight & Okex IEO are all on the way - though Binance appears to be winning the race with several successful token sales already to its name.

I only shudder to think of the potential market manipulation scenarios that are made possible by exchanges controlling how a large portion of a token's supply is distributed from day zero. Given these platforms are centralized they can easily: censor & filter who is allowed to buy the tokens, manipulate the token's price or manipulate the token sale completely much like how they create fake volume.

Investors seem to have fallen under the charm of the new IEO buzzword, with a naive belief these upstanding businesses will be auditing token sales and that their investments are safer on an exchange where they do not control their private key?

Do not get me wrong though, after having dealt with the marketing headaches around an ICO campaign, I can definitely see the appeal of why projects are choosing the route of an IEO.

Why choose to launch an initial exchange offering?

If you are having trouble to wrap your head around what an IEO is, then simply think of it as an ICO where the exchange acts as a guarantor and venue for the project's token sale.

It allows developers to take advantage of the exchange's existing user base, which should see people participating in their crowdfund immediately.

Investors are reassured that the asset will be listed & tradeable on an exchange.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are being monitored by various price aggregating websites, which in turn becomes free marketing for a project's token sale.

No matter how you put the flow together, sending funds to a smart contract address or QR code will always worry a potential investor. There have just been too many ICO scams, however, accessing your token sale via an exchange interface removes this stress.

A project's tokens have already been minted and are visible on the exchange platform, whereas, with certain ICOs you just had to trust you would one day receive your tokens.

It definitely brings various advantages to your token sale that cannot be overlooked and everyone can understand. Now, what if we removed the negatives we have discussed caused by a centralized exchange, and used Saturn Launchpad platform? This allows projects to set up and launch their token sale via an initial decentralized exchange offering (IDEO).

Benefits of an Initial Decentralized Exchange Offering (IDEO) over an IEO

Given that many token sales happen on Ethereum, using a censorship resistant decentralized exchange such as Saturn Network for your IEO is an ideal solution.

At the end of the day, participants in your token sale are buying your tokens & investing in your projects because they believe in your idea and its success. It seems only fair that you would receive a share of the exchange profits generated by your token sale!

How to launch your own IDEO via Saturn Launchpad

Optional Extras

Start a bounty campaign on our forum & use Saturn's Airdrop Tool to set up an airdrop on our platform, this will help you increase awareness about your token sale. Source a JavaScript developer, to use saturn.js to create a unique buy token interface for your project that you would be able to then embed into your own website.

Congrats! You have just launched your initial decentralized exchange offering (IDEO) on Saturn Launchpad. If you need any help or have any queries, come join our forum and ask away!

Happy investing, happy trading & happy token sale.

Future is bright!

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