Step-by-Step guide to Launching an ICO
Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that gives investors an opportunity to become involved in the crypto world. An ICO is a fundraising mechanism, where the proposed future crypto currency is sold for current crypto or fiat currencies as tokens. The following sections describe a logical sequence of steps required for launching an ICO successfully.
A. CREATING A WHITE PAPER
An ICO white paper presents problem area, proposed solution and a clear road-map for the project. Typically, a white paper should crisp and not more than 15 pages as it can put-off potential investors. It should be an easy read and should neither be completely technical nor totally business related. However, it should offer clear definition of the problem, the proposed solution approach and mention why the proposed solution is superior to existing solutions, if any. It should detail out the investment needs and how the funds will be used for the solution build. It is something that needs to make the potential subscriber excited and make them invest in this project and buy the tokens. Background of the team and the road-map of the product development also will add credence. Token sale plan and participation steps need to be well documented.
B. WEBSITE
Website is another place where the promoters explain their product in detail. It may also contain demos and PoC that will help the potential subscriber to understand the problem area to make them enthused. Initial releases of the product and the subscription base numbers will add reliability to the proposal.
C. MARKETING
This is one of the most important steps. The ICO token has to be made visible to all potential investors; it has to make them curious when it is shown in various media. Sufficient budget, time and resources have to be spent in promoting this proposed token in social media like, Reddit, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google, Instagram, YouTube, etc., to garner subscriber and make the ICO sale a success. Participation in popular blockchain events and networking to promote the ICO is a key success factor.
D. SMART CONTRACT DEVELOPMENT
The next step is in designing and developing a smart contract to deliver a secure ERC20 token. An ERC20 compliant token is easily trade-able on exchanges as it implements common functionality to move the funds from one address to another.
E. CONTRACT AUDIT
ICO smart contracts will eventually handle real money so security is of great importance. It is impossible to guarantee the complete security of a contract without a thorough smart contract audit. These audits have to be conducted by an experienced individual or a professional organization to find the most subtle vulnerabilities.
A typical audit will be complete once the following tasks are done:
Solidity Code Review: This requires working closely with the developers to understand all the functionality of the contracts.
Comprehensive Contract Analysis: Analysis of the long term goals of the contract. Advice on rollover to new contracts after the funding period completion.
Manual Analysis of results and outcomes: To ensure that the code is doing exactly what it is expected to do.
Gas Analysis: Minimum requirements for each call and where possible, a maximum gas limit listed for the functions.
Security Audit: Iterative procedure working with the developers to stop any third party from acquiring tokens without consent. Needs to cover all previous successful hacking attempts of ERC20 tokens and more.
F. ICO CROWD SALE
In this step of ICO implementation, tokens are distributed to potential investors in exchange of crypto-currency, viz., Bitcoin, Ether, or any fiat currency, USD, Euro, etc. Based on the token sale plan described in the white paper, a percentage of the total number of tokens will be open for sale to public in specified time period. The user’s existing crypo-currency or fiat currency is exchanged with the new proposed token based on the token published unit rate.
All the best in your launch.
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