Introduction to Blockchain Crowdfunding & ICO

This is an introductory talk (in Dec 2017) on Blockchain crowdfunding, focused on Initial Coin Offerings (ICO).

Transcript

1. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Blockchain Crowdfunding: An Introduction focused on Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) Aaron Li aaron@qokka.ai Dec 5, 2017 https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronqli/ Topics: - What is ICO? - Traditional fundraising / IPO v.s. ICO - Liquidity, Timing, Rights, Reputation - Examples: Ethereum, Filecoin - Issues with ICO - SEC and ICO scam - Regulation and laws - General ICO Process & next talk
2. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Ethereum, $18M Raised The first* famous ICO (7/2014) *The first (but not famous) ICO is Mastercoin (renamed to Omni), which raised $500k in 2013
3. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) The biggest ICO (9/2017), $257M Raised
4. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) What is ICO? a new way to raise money for projects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_coin_offering
5. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) image source: Starbase whitepaper
6. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Traditional Fundraising (IPO, etc.) ICO Liquidity Many years or never Usually a few months Timing Usually post-product Many rounds over years Usually pre-product Done days after ICO Rights Complex Regulated Standardised Simple Unregulated Customisable Reputation Hard to build No one cares about you Viral Growth Everyone has a stake
7. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Ethereum ICO Token Ether (use Bitcoins to buy) Liquidity Early 2015 (months after ICO) Now tradable on every exchange Timing 2M in 7 hours 18M in 2 months Rights Run programs, trade Reputation Building Second largest cryptocurrency A landmark in blockchain history
8. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Filecoin ICO Token Filecoin Liquidity Soon Timing $200M+ in 30 minutes Rights Store files, trade Reputation Building Tons of attention and new contributors
9. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Initial Coin Offering (ICO) • Issues, compared to IPO: • Scammers - e.g. Plexcoin • No regulations to recover damage • No supervision Failures: DAO, and many others
10. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai)
11. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Regulation? https://www.coinbase.com/legal/securities-law-framework.pdf Answers: What “coins” are securities? Why is SEC regulating this? How to design coins in compliance?
12. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Initial Coin Offering (ICO) • Usual Process: • Get a team & set up a good website • Write a whitepaper (next talk: about whitepaper) • Get people to know your team & project • Design your currency and sell them (i.e. ICO) *checkout token creation tool: https://openzeppelin.org/ - managing $1.5 billion worth of coins
13. Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Copyright 2017 Aaron Li (aaron@qokka.ai) Contact Email: aaron@qokka.ai LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronqli/ LinkedIn QR: