If you’re into anything blockchain, you’ve definitely heard of the ICO. But after 2017’s wave of ICO scams, crypto users and blockchain enthusiasts became incredibly weary of the ICO. What started out as a great way to fund your innovative project turned into nothing more than a get-rich-quick scheme built on the backs of scamming people. After that, a solution was needed. Now enter: the STO.

You might have heard of the STO, but never had a chance to really look into what it is. Maybe all the ICO scams turned you off coin offerings completely or maybe you’ve just been putting it off. Regardless, we’re here to explain to you a little bit about what STOs are.

ICO vs. STO

The ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is an investment period where people can purchase tokens from a company for future use on that companies platform, and the company then uses that money to build said platform. But this process is completely unregulated, which is why the STO was born.

The STO (Security Token Offering) is a variation of the ICO, except it’s regulated. As with an ICO, you still receive a token, but now that token is backed by a security asset like a stock, bond, or real estate.

The STO market is big in America because the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) is able to regulate an STO, unlike an ICO. But the STO has many possibilities for expansion.

Up to this point, STOs haven’t raised nearly as much money as ICOs, but they have the potential to pass ICO investments within a few years. How you may ask.

Well, the answer is market expansion.

The STO market is popular in America and parts of Europe, but it hasn’t truly hit the rest of the world yet. Most, if not all, STOs have been run solely in English up until this point, only reaching a small amount of the possible investment market. So in order to expand that market, it’s worth it to branch out into other languages.

STOs are regulated, and all of the specifications and rules that come with that can be confusing if English is not your first language. Making all offering and project information available in multiple languages allows investors from all over the world to understand exactly what they’re buying into and if they want to or not. Also, with the complicated technical language of any blockchain project, making sure investors understand your roadmap after the STO is crucial to securing them. Which is why you should translate your materials into at least one other foreign language.