Disruption in Financial Services
For any new readers, I’m a delegate for Ark called ‘thefoundry’. I was fortunate enough to have received an invite to a blockchain event in Berlin called ‘disruption in financial services’ via some friendly Ark members. It was a good opportunity to learn more about blockchain as well as an opportunity to talk more about Ark. I want to share 3 insights here from attending this event.
There is still a lot of basic information that needs to be shared
One session was focused on ICOs with guest speakers Alexander Lange, (FORMERLY EARLYBIRD VC), Neeraj Murarka (CTO OF BLUZELLE) and Dirk Weyel (CEO OF STRYKING). Our very own Lars Rensing, CFO & Co-founder of ARK Blockchain, was going to be a speaker as well but was sadly caught ill. A key message that was shared in this session was what to look out for when looking at an ICO. If you have been in crypto for a while, you might feel this is a given. But you could see the audience (largely investors) making notes intensely as the speakers explained what they were looking for:
- Read the whitepaper
- Check the team (thoroughly)
- Check the advisors
- Check the market cap and token distribution
Maybe that all seems like a given, but think back at your very first ICO investment. Did you take all these steps? Even when we are not talking about an ICO, but a crypto company already there with tokens on exchanges, the above 4 factors you still need to check (and much more).
The format of the ICO should potentially change
And this is a point that really resonated with me and was somewhat of an eye opener. The CEO of Neufund was a speaker in another session and mentioned a very interesting point. ICOs are great, but ICOs are also very new and need to grow up a bit more. One aspect in particular is somewhat difficult which is that during an ICO you want to collect a good amount of funding (and some ICOs really do want too much) and furthermore, you then want your token value to increase over time. On the other hand, there are many instances in which the token is also that which one needs to ‘pay for’ or ‘use’ the product the ICO claims to build or have. That service you want to have a cheaply as possible. So there are seemingly contradictory goals in place, that of having a token that increases in price, but at the same time a service that needs to remain cheap. Interestingly enough Neufund is exactly thinking about how to potentially separate this by looking into separating the token needed for the service and the value of the product/company.
Real deals are made at event
You thought you got great deals on an ICO you participated in? I experienced for the first time that at these events, the real deals are made. We are talking pre pre pre sale deals, custom made. Most likely you also need to have somewhat deep pockets for this, but just shows you that there are even opportunities to invest before the online pre sale. You should also consider this because it impact your own investment. What kind of deal did you get when you bought during the ICO. Maybe a 10% bonus? How will that work versus people with large bags that got 100% bonus for example? Be on the lookout for this or you could be holding on to your investment for a long, long, long time.
I hope to visit more events in the future, it really is an excellent place to chat with people over dinner on their adventures in the crypto space. As I explained at the top, I am an Ark delegate and part of this means that I do Ark outreach. Interested in Ark or looking for a delegate? Please check the below links!