The Best ICOs in History
An ICO is a very interesting type of crowdfunding campaign that allows cryptocurrency projects to raise capital for their ventures by selling coins in a pre-sale. Standing for Initial Coin Offering, the practice has come under great scrutiny, especially as it was used productively by many scammers in 2017 to steal from crypto-enthusiasts.
Despite many of the ICOs disappearing with investor funds or failing to deliver on their promised technology, some of them were highly successful and raised incredible amounts of funds which they used to launch exceptional technologies.
We’ve highlighted the top 5 ICOs in history for further explanation.
Filecoin (FIL)
Initial Token Price: $5
2021 Price: $23.90-$50.40
Amount raised in ICO: $257,000,000
Website: https://filecoin.io/
Whitepaper: https://docs.filecoin.io/
As can be seen by the 10x price growth since their October 2020 ICO, things are going exceedingly well for Filecoin, a blockchain-based cooperative digital storage and retrieval system.
This peer-to-peer storage system has a huge buzz around it and is being hailed in China as one of the best use cases for the blockchain outside of finance, as well as an excellent mining option that doesn’t require specialist equipment.
Their technology, which has taken 3 years to complete, is said to be very advanced, but to simplify, it is a decentralised storage network that functions by users paying to store their files, with those storing the files receiving FIL as a reward.
Tezos (XTZ)
Initial Token Price: $0.5
2021 Price: $1.96-$5.53
Amount raised in ICO: $232,000,000
Website: https://www.tezos.com/
Whitepaper: https://tezos.gitlab.io/
When Tezos raised $232m in their 2017 ICO, it was the biggest ICO ever at that time and turned a lot of heads. Then, in 2018, things turned sour, with four class-action lawsuits and a bearish market to deal with. After riding out those choppy waters, however, they recovered in 2019 and 2020, and now in 2021, they appear to be stronger than ever.
Tezos are not mined, instead, they operate a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism that pays out rewards. The name, Tezos, comes from Greek, meaning ‘Smart Contract’, which is quite apt for their technology, as the development team designed an evolving network that would govern itself through network participation, especially as developers can include an invoice in their suggested protocol upgrades, providing an incentive to improve the network.
SIRIN LABS Token (SRN)
Initial Token Price: $0.47
2021 Price: $0.018-$0.084
Amount raised in ICO: $157,885,825
Website: https://sirinlabs.com/
Whitepaper: https://sirinlabs.com/media/SIRINLABS_-_White_Paper.pdf
In 2017, people asked ‘do we need a blockchain phone?’, and back then, it seemed the answer was a resounding yes, with $157m being invested into the idea through an ICO. In 2021, we can bring you the disappointing news that, no, it was not what we needed, and that’s why you can see SRN’s value has plummeted. Rival blockchain phones also launched to compound Sirin Labs problem and still there is no mass adoption (or much need) for these devices.
The phone promised a ‘Dapp store’, cold storage for crypto, and easy conversions between tokens. Once released, it failed to sell, and the company began a downward spiral, being sued by the manufacturers for non-payment and having to lay off most of their workforce. The reputation since has not recovered. Even in 2021, the founder is in and out of court, having been sued by people in multiple countries for a variety of reasons.
Despite all of those complications, they’re still hanging in and releasing new models, so, see what’s being said about their latest device, Finney U1, here.
Bancor (BNT)
Initial Token Price: $3.86
2021 Price: $1.28-$6.69
Amount raised in ICO: $153,000,000
Website: https://www.bancor.network/
Whitepaper: https://about.bancor.network/static/bancor_protocol_whitepaper_en.pdf
Bancor is a blockchain protocol that handles the conversion of cryptocurrencies instantly and independently of exchanges such as Coinbase. Part of this feature is to benefit traders, but on the other side, it is designed to provide liquidity to small and micro-cap coins, as well as provide financial incentives to liquidity providers.
Interestingly, the name Bancor pays homage to economist John Maynard Keynes, who proposed a super-currency of the same name back in 1944. Now, Bancor, represented as BNT, is the default reserve currency for all smart tokens built on their network. As other coins are converted in and out of BNT, other BNT holders gain interest through the transaction fees.
Also built into the network is the ability to block or recall any tokens that may be used fraudulently, as was the case in 2018 when 2.5m BNT were frozen during a suspicious transaction. This design, however, did not stop hackers from stealing 25,000 ETH from Bancor, now worth close to $50m.
Bancor’s ICO, which raised $153m, has mostly been justified, with the market cap now worth around $1bn. The price of the tokens, however, is incredibly volatile, soaring at $10.40 in December 2017, and plummeting to $0.14 in March 2020. As we write this, the price is rising again and should easily go beyond the 2021 high of $6.69.
Status (SNT)
Initial Token Price: $0.036
2021 Price: $0.030-$0.12
Amount raised in ICO: $108,000,000
Website: https://status.im/
Whitepaper: https://status.im/whitepaper.pdf
Status had a dream of becoming a desktop operating system and a decentralized browser with a built-in messaging system and crypto wallet. The concept was intriguing and arguably more ambitious than rivals Brave, but did it work? Yes, it did, after raising $108m in their ICO, they managed to build their technology, releasing both a mobile and desktop version of Status that allows you to talk to your friends and make crypto transactions with them internally. It looks like Telegram or WeChat, but is built on Ethereum and is designed to rival MetaMask. The problem, however, is that it’s not really something many people need, and so it’s dubious as to whether it offers much scope for long-term adoption.
In 2020, the founders of Status, Jarrad Hope and Carl Bennets, were hit with a class-action lawsuit as their ICO is being deemed illegal by US federal and state security laws. The problem is, two decentralized guys who develop tools to help people go under the radar aren’t exactly easy to find. The authorities and even private investigators have failed to locate the pair, who are thought to be hiding out in Switzerland to avoid being ‘served’.
Since an all-time high of $0.57 in January 2018, SNT has failed to live up to expectations, hovering around the $0.01–0.02 mark for a long time. 2021 has seen some recovery though, peaking at $0.12. We’d be surprised to see Status make it big at this point, with legal questions being asked, an app that reviewers find buggy, and rivals such as Sylo breathing down their necks.
What are the other top ICOs in history?
Also making the top 10 for the amount raised are Qash, Aragon, Bankex, TRON, and DomRaider. Want to know more about them? Start a discussion in our FREE Telegram group!
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