Brock Pierce created the first ICO Mastercoin in 2013 which sold tokens rather than equity to a global audience of investors.The project was a big hit, with about 5,000 BTCs, worth around $ 500,000 at that time. It set the stage for future blockchain projects.

Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is the new way by which the capitalists raise their capitals thereby ditching the lengthy funding process and raise capital through blockchain technology. ICOs brought with them a new revolution of how people invest in cryptocurrency.

When a crypto startup firm wants to raise funds through an (ICO), it usually creates a plan or a ‘Whitepaper’, which gives the exact details of the project, what elements are needed to complete the project, how much money is needed to start the project,what type of money is accepted, and how long the ICO campaign will run for.

During such campaigns, enthusiasts and supporters buy some cryptocoins using fiat currency.These coins are then referred to as tokens which are similar to shares of a company sold to investors in an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Generally, investors get motivated to buy cryptocoins in the hope that the coins would yield a higher value than purchased for before.

A perfect example of a successful ICO project that was profitable to early investors is the platform called Ethereum. The project was announced in 2014 and its ICO raised $18 million in Bitcoins.The project went live in 2015. In 2016 had an ether value that went up as high as $14 with a market value of over $1 billion. However,some people started taking undue advantage thereby leading to the emergence of scams.Onecoin, one of the most recent scam-ICO, allegedly went down with more than $350 million worth of investors’ money.

THE FUTURE OF ICOS…

The year 2017 itself saw the introduction of more than ninety-five ICOs. However, in September the People’s Bank of China officially banned ICOs, citing it to be disruptive to economic and financial stability. The central bank announced that tokens cannot be used as currency on the market and banks are not allowed to provide service relating to ICOs. As a result, both Bitcoin and Ethereum tumbled, and it was viewed as a sign that regulations on cryptocurrencies are coming. The ban also penalizes coin offerings already completed.

In early 2018, Facebook, Twitter and Google banned ICO advertisements altogether.

China, North Korea and India are the only countries where ICOs are prohibited. Excepting these, there are 197 countries in the world, most of which enforce little or no ICO regulations.Considering this, the industry has a higher chance of succeeding in the near future.

Back in March 2018, a G20 meeting was held in Argentina; the main theme being ICOs and technology in general.

This led to-

· Fewer Scams floating in the market

· Increase in the institutional investors

· Higher startup success rate

The ICO industry saw a lot of ups and downs. Presently, it is facing a lot of legal issues as most of the people take undue advantage of it .However there are certain Summits and meetings being held by the Government of different countries to make it secure and much more approachable not only to the future investors but also to the public in general.