2018 Has Been Good for ICOs

The year has so far been good for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Coinschedule.com data reveals that communication, finance, and trading & investing have been the leading sectors in terms of amount raised via ICO. These sectors have accounted for 28.3%, 13.3% and 11.7% respectively, of all ICO funds raised so far in the year (as of May 22, 2018).

March has been the month with the highest windfall in the ICO space, with a good $2.9 billion being raised. Numbers of ICOs seen, however, were the highest in April (a total of 106 ICOs). The top 10 ICOs, ranked in order of money raised, were:

1. Telegram (GRAM)

Telegram, a social community connecting 200 million users, has already raised $1.7 billion in its pre-ICO, against a target of $2 billion. Its GRAM token currently being sold via the pre-ICO is representative cryptocurrency of the TON (Telegram Open Network) Blockchain.

With millions of Telegram users as the backbone and the TON wallet, Telegram intends to make GRAM the world’s most adopted cryptocurrency. It will easily accommodate millions of users and thousands of decentralized applications, to provide direct payment channels to transfer value in milliseconds.

2. Dragon (DRG)

Dragon is a decentralized currency and partnership network for casinos and players, bringing crypto to the forefront of the online gambling world. The Dragon Coin (DRG) will act as a frictionless, low-cost & transparent alternative financial mechanism within Casinos, to enhance the age-old gaming industry. The public token sale has closed, having raised $320 million.

3. Huobi Token (HT)

Huobi, the global digital asset exchange, has launched a blockchain-powered loyalty point system that makes use of the Huobi Token (HT). At the exchange, these tokens would allow its holders to get transaction fee discounts, provide liquidity protection, access to exclusive events, and will be tradable against popular coins. The ICO has raised $300 million and is currently the 3rd largest ICO of 2018.

4. Bankera (BNK)

Bankera’s exchange, to be launched in the second quarter of 2018, will offer a trading solution on the next-generation level for cryptocurrencies and tokens. Simply put, Bankera is building a bank for the blockchain era. To provide utility to its BNK (Bankera tokens), the project has kept trading of all pairs, including BNK, free of transaction costs. So, it will make more financial sense to buy BNK with BTC and then sell BNK for ETH, rather than buying ETH with BTC directly. The ICO raised about $151 million.

5. Envion (EVN)

The Envion ICO raised just over $100 million in its ICO. Envion provides an innovative solution for a disruptive market. By accessing unused overcapacities of renewables, Envion attempts to reach the world’s lowest electricity-price mix. Envion’s highly flexible, globally operative fleet of technologically advanced Mobile Mining Units, is here to provide the decentralized, flexible and robust infrastructure that the blockchain industry needs.

6. Elastos (ELA)

Elastos has created a smartweb powered by blockchain. The project provides the first completely safe environment on the web, where decentralized applications are detached from the Internet while also permitting full scalability to millions of users. The project has raised $94.1 million in its ICO.

7. Flashmoni (OZT)

With over $72 million being raised in its ICO, Flashmoni is a blockchain company that offers a physical gold-backed cryptocurrency, innovative payment solutions, and a smart contract-based advertising technology. The Flashwallet, Flashxchanger, and Flashremitt services will enable instant transfer, conversion and remittance facilities respectively to its users.

8. Neuromation (NTK)

Neuromation is a distributed synthetic data platform for deep learning applications. Neurotoken (NTK) is an internal currency for payment of various services within the platform, such as DataSets, NN Models, Data Generators or DataSet Labeling. The ICO raised $71.7 million, making it the 8th largest ICO so far in 2018.

9. Zeepin (ZPT)

Zeepin offers a dAPP-based ecosystem upon which creative industries can successfully build businesses. This distributed new economy for the creative industry would help companies overcome barriers such as copyright, financing, and talent, by releasing a series of dAPPs throughout 2018. The ZPT token sale raised $62.6 million.

10. Olympus Labs (MOT)

Olympus Labs is an app-based solution that allows for currency exchange, trading, shopping and investment at the touch of a button. The emphasis is on providing options that are easy to understand, and easy to invest in. Their blockchain-based financial ecosystem is centered around the Olympus Protocol for the decentralized creation of cryptocurrency-based financial products. Their token sale successfully raised $60.3 million.

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