When comparing ICOs and deciding which one to invest in, it’s helpful to consider most successful ICOs of recent months. Reflecting on the characteristics that made ICOs popular will give you a good idea of what to look out for in upcoming ICOs. This will help you come to a better decision regarding your next investment.

Here we have gathered relevant information and reflected on the three most popular ICOs in recent history.

1.EOS

EOS is a decentralized applications platform, at the time of writing still in its ICO phase. EOS ERC-20 tokens went on sale on the 26th of June 2017. The final ICO phase was set to complete soon, on the 3rd of July 2018. However, this date is likely to be pushed back due to the discovery of a serious vulnerability in the workings of EOS smart contracts.

While EOS has proven highly successful, rising to 5th place among cryptocurrency market cap rankings, this bug shows the wisdom of paying constant attention to your ICO investments, even when they look to be a “done deal.”

EOS is the brainchild of serial blockchain entrepreneur, Daniel Larimer, also behind BitShares and Steem. EOS underlies the EOS.io software which allows businesses to construct blockchain applications that visually act the same way as existing web-based applications.

What sets the EOS decentralized applications platform apart is its claim to two distinct features. Firstly, its zero-transaction fees policy and secondly its promised scalability. The company behind EOS is based in the Cayman Islands, Block.one, claims to have superior processing and communication technologies. This is what should allow EOS to scale better and charge less than its primary competitors, such as Ethereum.

While the EOS ICO is based on the Ethereum network, EOS will function as an independent blockchain once token distribution is over. The total distribution share will breakdown to 90 percent ownership by participants and 10 percent ownership by the team. The token supply will amount to 1 billion tokens.

A prominent success of this ICO was its ability to generate $185 million in Ethereum within the initial five days since launch. The total distribution time is roughly one year, accounting for delays. With this extended timeframe for its token sale, EOS is allowing participants ample time to accumulate tokens based on their expectations of its success.

Buying EOS

To help you with purchasing your first EOS tokens we have broken the process down into two main steps:

Purchase EOS tokens using ether

Go to the EOS.io website and select the “GET EOS” link (under the animated logo) far down the home page.

Agree to the terms and conditions notice which appears.

Copy the Ethereum address for the token distribution.

Select the “SEND ETHER & TOKENS” tab from your MyEtherWallet application and enter your desired amount.

Remember to include some extra to cover the transaction fees.

Select and submit the transaction using the “GENERATE TRANSACTIONS” tab.

Claim your ERC-20 tokens and register to claim native EOS tokens once the sale ends

You will need to access your MyEtherWallet for these more complex steps.

A detailed guide to this rather more complex process is available here.



Compatible Wallets

Once you purchase your EOS tokens, it’s advisable to store them in one of the following compatible wallets:

MyEtherWallet (no download is needed as this wallet is online.)

MetaMask (this wallet is downloadable as a Google Chrome addon.)

Incompatible Wallets

The official EOS.io website does warn against using incompatible wallets, such as any deposit wallets from any Bitcoin or Ethereum exchange. These exchanges include:

Other incompatible wallets include software multi-wallets, such as:

Exodus

Jaxx



2.NEO

Known informally as “the Chinese Ethereum” and previously called AntShares, NEO is an ICO that gained a lot of traction in 2017. This ICO is part of the first ever Chinese blockchain platform, also known as NEO. Founded in 2014 the platform has sought to become a revolutionary force in e-commerce and grow alongside the emerging “smart economy.”

The NEO platform seeks to convert traditional assets into digital assets, with the help of smart contracts. NEO also allows for a digital identity of these assets to become available using smart contracts. These smart contracts are different, as they can be used directly by many familiar programming languages, such as Java, C#, VB.Net, F# and Kotlin.

The NEO token itself has a hard cap of 100 million tokens, with 50 million available in the market today. The other 50 million are set aside for long term investment by the NEO team. The token’s smallest unit is one NEO. All of these tokens were pre-mined. NEO is the investment token of the blockchain whereas the utility token, used to pay for running applications on the network, is called GAS.

The GAS token, previously known as Antcoins, acts as the fuel of the blockchain. It has a 100 million hard cap but, like Bitcoin, is divisible down to 8 decimal places. These GAS tokens were not pre-mined and will be generated through a 22 year decay algorithm.



Buying NEO

As the NEO token sale ended on the 7th of September 2017, the NEO token itself is now available on numerous cryptocurrency exchanges. At the time of writing 1 NEO is equivalent to roughly $50, according to CoinMarketCap.

For a detailed guide on how to buy cryptocurrency using an exchange

For an extensive list of exchanges which support NEO, click here.



Compatible Wallets

Once you purchase your NEO tokens, it is advisable to store them in one of the following compatible wallets:

Web Wallets: NEOtracker .io, NEO Wallet.net , NEO Wallet.cn

Hardware Wallet: Ledger Nano S

Desktop Wallet: NEON Wallet , NEO GUI , NEO CLI

Paper Wallet – Ansy

3. Bancor

At the time of its release, the Bancor ICO sale of Bancor Network Tokens (BNT) managed to raise $153 Million. This made it the highest earning ICO prior to June 2017. The token’s purpose is to be used as the middleman when converting other cryptocurrencies and tokens.

This token is rather different in that the number of BNT in circulation is always changing as tokens are created whenever a customer sends ETH to a smart contract. When the customer sells their BNT to the contract, a distribution of the BNT tokens occurs.

The key to the token’s success was the Bancor Network. This network allows for easy conversion between various tokens. The network, unlike a traditional exchange, does not need to match sellers and buyers. It automatically and continuously matches tokens, using connector modules found in smart contracts.

The Bancor Network describes itself as providing a protocol which assist people to create entirely new types of cryptocurrency by listing on their network.





Buying Bancor

Because the Bancor token sale ended in June 2017, the Bancor token is now available on multiple cryptocurrency exchanges. At the time of writing, 1 BNT is equivalent to $3.49, according to CoinMarketCap.

For a detailed guide on how to buy cryptocurrency using an exchange

The Bancor token is available to purchase on the following exchanges:

Binance

Bittrex

Bancor

HitBTC

Compatible Wallets

Once you purchase your Bancor tokens, it is advisable to store them in one of the following compatible wallets: