Tezos is one of the projects that made the list. Thomson Reuters LONDON — 2017 was the year the initial coin offering (ICO) went mainstream.

The fundraising method, first pioneered by Ethereum in 2014, was little used up to the start of this year but it has been widely taken up in 2017, eclipsing venture capital as a means of raising money for blockchain startups. Over $3.5 billion was raised through ICOs last year.

ICOs are where startups issue their own digital currencies, structured like bitcoin. These tokens, which can be traded online despite the company being private, are sold for real money that startups then use to fund their projects.

Off3r, a website that lets people compare and contrast investment opportunity, rounded up data on the 11 largest ICOs of 2017.

Here are the ones that made the list: