By @SimonCocking, review of How to ICO/ITO in Singapore: A regulatory and compliance viewpoint on initial coin offering and initial token offering in Singapore, by Malcolm Tan. Available from Amazon here.

The next bubble? Or an unstoppable new world order? What is this blockchain revolution all about?

The first bitcoin purchase for two pizza’s in New York City for 10.000 bitcoins happened on 22nd May 2010. Those same 10000 bitcoins are worth over US$48.000.000.00 today. No other asset class has returned as much profits as cryptocurrencies have in the last eight years.

Everyone is talking about cryptocurrencies, and entrepreneurs are jumping on the ICO/ITO bandwagon and issuing their own digital currencies. Estonia, Singapore, India and even the International Monetary Fund have issued, or are intending to issue their own digital currency.

What are the risks? What are the regulators doing and what do they think? Is it safe to invest in digital currencies and ICOs?

This book is a summary of:

> The ICO and cryptocurrency world today.

> The overall trends in the industry all over the globe.

> How ICOs are run.

> What the specific legal and regulatory issues relating to ICO’s are.

There is a lot to like about this book, and it is useful to more than just those looking to do an ICO/ITO in Singapore. Tan gives a good history and overview of blockchain and this new evolution of crowdfunding methods, be they Initial TOKEN or COIN Offerings (ITO/ICO). Singapore has become one of the world’s leading sites for ICOs, and yet recently there has also been some legislation where the goverment has looked to row back on some of the more appealing reasons for launching your token/coin offering based there. Tan’s book is a good, thorough read, explaining many key terms and elements to this new crypto world.

The one challenge perhaps, as we read it, is that have been written around last August, so much has moved along since then, that this book would probably benefit from an updated, revised version. It may seem crazy to say that a lot has happened in only 8? months but in the world it is very much the case. Things are evolving quickly, and having spent the time to create what could potentially be a really valuable guide, it would only offer more value if there was perhaps a 2018 edition of this book.

If you would like to have your company featured in the Irish Tech News Business Showcase, get in contact with us at [email protected] or on Twitter: @SimonCocking