It seems Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs, are everywhere these days. I have written a few articles on the impact of ICOs on Ethereum and have even recommended a great airdrop from the company Current. You may be wondering, what are these ICOs and Airdrops that are all over social media and other news outlets you may be following?

These digital token offerings or ICOs, have been rapidly gaining popularity and it would seem the market has been flooded with them nowadays. This fundraising method is very similar to crowdfunding and allows these companies to raise money to further develop the platform they are building by selling a digital token or coin.

Depending on the stage you register for an ICO you could be rewarded with bonus coins for buying early. There are usually different stages of offerings and the bonus amount rewarded will shrink based on many factors such as moving closer to when the coin may be offered on a trading Exchange or overall progress of the project.

To take part in an ICO a user must register and then buy these digital tokens or coins with a variety of methods but the most common method currently is through Ethereum. Later in this article I will cover in detail the registration process for an ICO.

When buying into an ICO you must exercise caution as many have warned that the sector is ripe with fraud. To date, the vast majority of token offerings have been unregulated. In late 2017, the Ontario Securities Commission for the first time ever approved token offering by Toronto-based TokenFunder. And, Quebec-based Impak Finance was Canada’s first legal ICO. The Impak Coin sale brought in roughly $1.4-million to fund the creation of their platform.

Check out our current picks for the best ICO: Current , Nimbus and Sphere

What is a token Airdrop?

A​ ​token airdrop​ ​is​ ​when​ ​a​ ​blockchain project distributes free​ ​tokens or​ ​coins to​ ​the​ crypto ​community. A Crypto Airdrop is an efficient way for the founders of new blockchain projects to create a community around their project and create a social media following.

Each blockchain team can request whatever they want from their backers. Every crypto airdrop has a different set of rules. Most new token airdrops require retweets on Twitter, a Telegram account, email account and an Ethereum wallet. You will also be invited to take part in the company’s ICO, if applicable. Many coins that offer airdrops are PRE-ICO or just finished their ICO. This often means the token is not yet traded on the larger exchanges. You may consider creating an account at one of the exchanges listed below to be able to trade or sell your airdrop tokens. Or you can always keep it in your Ethereum wallet until the value increases.

Exchanges: Binance or Cryptopia



Things you will require before you can participate in an Airdrop:

Have a valid ERC20 non-exchange wallet. I suggest using MyEtherWallet A Twitter account. You will likely have to retweet a message. A Telegram account. Most, if not all airdrops will require you join the Telegram group. An email account. Who doesn’t have this already?

You may also want to make an account at BitCoinTalk account. The older your account is, the better. This will help if you decide to join a bounty program offered by the developers that rewards commenting, social shares and blog posts with further tokens.

Sometimes in order to be eligible to receive your tokens, you must provide further information known as a KYC. What this stands for is Know Your Customer. This will require you provide a copy of your government-issued document. This could include a Passport or Driver’s license. You will have to take a copy of the front, back and a copy of your person holding the ID. This is used to verify the information you provided and it ensures you are legally allowed to participate in the ICO or airdrop.

Not all companies require this KYC information but it is becoming increasingly more common. When I joined my first ICO and airdrop I was very hesitant to provide this information because the idea of sending this type of information over the internet always makes me weary. However, I can honestly say I missed out on some really good opportunities for free or vastly reduced tokens by deciding to not submit KYC information. I also decided not to join a few ICOs that I thought could have been considered questionable.

I have learned my lesson and now have become very selective in the ICOs or airdrops I join. Now, I feel confident submitting the required KYC documentation because I have done my research, if I am willing to give them my money, I should be willing to provide my information as well.

If you chose to join an airdrop or ICO It is important that you do your own research and invest wisely. I hope this article has provided some insight into the process you may encounter and the steps required to join these offerings.

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