Is anyone else becoming disgusted with the current state of ICOs?
There is such a ridiculous amount of wealth being invested in “3-person companies” and “coins” that are basically vaporware. Collectively, hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into these “entities” that are mostly comprised of flashy marketing, vague whitepapers, and visions of something they hope to create. Many of these “companies” don't even have working products. Bancor had 40 lines of code and raised $144 million. Folks, that’s $3.6 million per line of code… Hello??
Tezos is unfolding as another example of vague promises and carefully worded documents to make sure you are “making a contribution to a foundation” rather than “investing” or “participating in an ICO.” There’s a reason it’s based in Switzerland and has great attorneys to protect the creators. This project was dormant 2+ years and is now being resurrected by a couple who seem to only understand enough about blockchain technology to lure people with deep pockets hoping to cash in on the ICO craze.
They’ve surpassed $200 million without even a working demo, and are leaving the “contribution” period open (read: uncapped) for 15 days in order to maximize their own take while diluting the stake of the “contributors.” At the current rate they could take in a half billion dollars.
Their aspirations are lofty -- to create an entirely new blockchain that would compete with Ethereum by using a "self-amending cryptoledger." It all sounds great, but why should the world throw a half billion dollars at this couple of people to try to see if they can pull off their vision? And what will be the incentive to actually deliver after they’ve brought in enough money to retire on a mountaintop in Maui?
Maybe most disconcerting to date: In an email to “supporters” on July 5th, after the money started pouring in we see this:
“In the first hour of the fundraiser, we experienced a corruption of a database we use to produce these summaries… The number of wallets that had inaccurate summaries is 1,272. Of these, only 243 were missing UTXOs or ETH deposits. For the other affected wallets the listed contributions were valid but the total number of allocated tezzies was buggy.”
C’mon Tezos, you’re raising several hundred million after delaying your original timeline by 6 weeks and you can’t even accurately record the funds coming in?
What are your thoughts Steemit community?
I completely agree with you here. A lot of these ICOs are trying to compete with "Ethereum" by using their platform at the same time to do so.
I'm skeptical until I see the product itself.
Whitepapers and promises won't get me investing into anything.
Great write up!
Thanks for the kind words. Now following you!
Did you mention an... ICO??
https://steemit.com/meme/@valderrama/these-ico-s-are-a-problem
Great one!
🤓
I think most people invested in this ICO because of influence of Tim Draper.
Have you invested in this? :)
Yes getting just as disgusted as you are! Its because there are too many people joining cryptocurrencies just for money and think ICOs will make them a quick buck. People need to read the whitepapers and support cryptos that actually have a valid plan. Posts like yours will hopefully make people start becoming more aware of the situation!
Thank you! Which current ICOs do you feel have the most merit and likelihood of returning value to investors?
Im not sure if they are still holding an ICO, but they might be, check out the Hive Project! They have a team of both experienced and really communicative members. They have slack channel where they answer any inquiries that potential investors have. And their general idea seems to have a really high potential of working out well!