The CEO of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange has released dedicated support for ICOs, saying they are “100 times easier” for fundraising than venture capital.
Zhao: Experience Favors the ICO
In a blog post dated May 7th, Binance’s Zhao Changpeng sought to alleviate the increasingly tepid reception towards ICO campaigns as the fundraising model struggles with regulatory scrutiny and bad actors. He writes:
Through my own experience, and watching hundreds of other projects at a close distance, I would say raising money through ICOs is about 100 times easier than through traditional VCs, if not more.
With the ease of raising money increased, logic says there may be 100 times more startups, well-funded startups, where ICOs are allowed.
After their halcyon year in 2017, token offerings currently face a mixed landscape.
The last week saw South Korean legislators introduce a new bill to re-legalize investment using the tool, while at the same time, encrypted messenger Telegram announced it would cancel the public phase of its ICO after raising almost $2 billion in private presales.
Never Mind the Scams
For Zhao, however, the market is still in its initial rather than latter stages, with any teething problems – regulators, scams, and failures – a necessary process to shape a more solid industry.
“We are still in early days of the industry. You can’t make advancements without encountering problems. Properly dealing with issues is how progress is made,” he continued. Zhao then added:
If we had given up e-commerce/internet because there was identity theft or credit card fraud, where would the world be today?
Binance has become the cryptocurrency industry’s leading example of “following the money,” the exchange having spun profits of $200 million in the first quarter of 2018 alone.
Zhao’s conclusion on ICOs follows a similar vein, stating:
Guess what most VCs do today? They invest in ICOs now! VC groups, unlike other large slow-to-react organizations, have their nose on the money. That pretty much says it all!
What do you think about Zhao Changpeng’s opinion of ICOs? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitcoinist archives, and Binance.
