Bitcoin Forum

Full analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24c1Azp4238
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SUMMARY :

In today's age we are now seeing crypto currency projects popping up like crazy, this is both good and bad. The really interesting reason ICO’s are so unique is that it is a way for people to fundraise a product/service without traditional standards. However if we want adoption and the scaling future most of us cryptocurrency enthusiasts users want, then we are going to need to make some standards to stop the ICO frenzy. It is no secret that 90% of the coins on the market is going to fail, just like traditional businesses today. Regulation can be very harmful to innovation and markets like we have seen in the past, however this is not going to be a harmful bar on crypto currency. With the knowledge that most of the coins and projects are going to fail, one might think that cryptocurrency is going down the wrong road. However good things can come from failing ICO’s. Its called a bubble burst, that is right Ethereum and other ICO’s are in a bubble. We need these ICO’s to fail in order to understand that we need a more reasonable financial funding standard. ICo’s are receiving too much money fast, and are over evaluated even in the initial funding phase. ICo’s are launching every single day, with less and less information yet are receiving more and more money! This is a huge problem, and a Coindesk study says that ICO’s in the month of September 2017 received a total of $500m. However not every single project is unreasonable, there are many exciting projects out today that are receiving less funding or not taking the coin offering route and are extremely promising however we don't hear about them because they aren't hyped. As investors we need to make smarter decisions with our precious coins, and hold these ICo’s to a brand new standard.



Do you think there should be more standards for whitepapers and ICO's? How do you think it is effecting the crypto currency community? Make sure to check my YouTube video to hear the full analysis.

interesting poin of view  ::)

Thank you for the kind words, how do you feel about it?

Awesome guide for creating a ICO !.
I would like to open a new ICO can you help me with interviewing me ? Are you also a good interviewer?

Good write up and analysis. If there is a way to scale and weigh ICO before they even starts will go a long way to help both investors and bounty hunters not to lose money and time respectively. Can you imagine purchasing token during ICO or Presale  or put effort in promoting a project only to be told we are not able to reach our soft or hard cap. It is painful.  

I dont think I understand your question



Lots of changes need to be made in ICO's that is for sure

Agree that there should be more standards. While hard core regulation would in fact stifle the growth, you can consider what an IPO needs to succeed and work back from there.  How about full disclosure on risks, competitive analysis, growth expectations, profitability expectations etc.? It would at least show that the company management has thought about their business before trying an ICO and would help investors make sense of the business model. Creating a blockchain is great, but what does the company do once that is done? Are they really going to get customers?  Investors should get a sense as to why this company deserves an investment, beyond just creating a blockchain.

Yes of course that it is a good analysis, you are right about everything that you wrote about. Ico's need some regulations, without them, everybody could be rich with only creating an ANN thread, creating some fake linkedin profiles and a good whitepaper, and of course, a signature campaign who will last more than a month, it is a good marketing strategy, of course.
But yes, they need to change because people are not investing as much money as they did before.

That's a good point of view! I agree with you, ICOs should be regulated. They should undergo a validation process by an auditor, and smart contracts developed should be checked by some external evaluators.

ICOs have that interesting thing about actually letting everyone raise funds for their project, even if it means doing it basically from scratch, but on the other hand that's the biggest problem. Many unprepared people try to start ICO, without any plans, goals, technical and programming skills. They just want to have their own project, release tokens and hope for profits. I think, ICOs maybe not neccessarily should be regulated legally, but for sure from the technical side. It should be really hard to conduct ICO, so that only people that know how to take care of blockchain technology or people with enough money to hire such specialists would do this.

Thanks! And yes I agree

The change in standards, the approach to the ICO is long overdue. However, it is actually about a certain regulation. But this process itself is decentralized. The regulation of the issue of initial coins can be made only by the state in whose territory the ICO is conducted. Recently, Vitaly Buterin said that at the end of next year, beginning of 2019, the second wave, the second version of the ICO, will be launched, which will be more qualitative. True, he did not specify what is the difference. Let's hope for this new version and for partial regulation of the ICO in terms of checking and identifying the team on the part of the states, so that the risks will decrease and these activities will be of a higher quality.

This standard of investing in coins that dont have a mvp, marketing research and the advisor vague will not last forever. When the companies run out of money, hell will break for a period of time. Which is why we should be holding them to a brand new standard

Standards and regulations are two different conversations.  I believe having a standard (or set of standards) would be incredible.  There are already defacto standards out there.  For instance, all ICOs must publish a whitepaper and have a website with a .io extension (:eye_roll:).  However, having a standards body that encourages more disclosure and easy ICO comparisons would be welcomed. 

Now, as for regulations, I believe that the worldwide governments are already on that.  Where money is, laws will be created and regulations will exist.

P.S.  Something like this:
https://www.coinbase.com/legal/securities-law-framework.pdf

I agree, regulation can kill innovation while standards make it better for the investors.

Better regulation will protect investors
Now ICO has too much fraud
I think so.

Very good I hope this really happened so investors are protected from scam projects and the like. And I think if the rules are more and more strictly glance crypto currency as a place of investment

Exactly, it will be good for crypto. However it isnt even really regulation, its investors getting smarter and demanding more




Thanks, if you watched my video I explain all the positives

Well, our platform provides basic background checks for all upcoming ICO's. We verify if it is initiated by a real group of people that form a real company. I think any more control beyond that will lead to exactly the same situation because of which we have this cryptoasset market in the first place. Too much regulations that are done by people who need to be paid and can be bribed or can extort.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1980695.msg19722978#msg19722978

they must be absolutely reliable. The trickery that is full of lies should not work. true social media accounts and historical information. who are team members. I think it is necessary to know what they have done before and what they have done before. they have to be transparent about the prize. the award tokens that must be distributed must definitely be delivered to a separate escrow from the project. to keep their words and to know that everything is not just money. Sometimes just serving is enough.

The more information we get as investors the better

good luck OP lol

What do you mean by this?


We WILL see more standards in the future, so regardless of people seeing this thread. More standards will come out that address the issues I have pointed out. You cant go forward with the current state of the whitepapers and ICO funding. I think we can all agree there is a huge problem will how information is relayed.

It is a good idea, the question is, who will grade the standard of ICO, if there is an independent organization that standardize ICO, I think it is cool , The organization verify the project, team and the liability of the ICO. The ICO should register to the organization then the certification is released that the ICO is legitimate and worth investing. The project should be real. The members of the organization should be independent in assesing the ICO. There will be worthy ICO after that, any ICOs that do not pass the certification of the organization will not be worth investing.

ok i agree i will apply that standards

tell me what you want to have

regards

investors should be holding ICo's to a better standard. The market will create this standard when everyone gets burned investing in these ICO's. Hence a bubble will be bursting when everyone is pissed they invested so poorly. People will think "how come my investment in a product that didnt do any market research, no job descriptions and no MVP fail?" And then you will see more ICO's and projects that dont have tokens supplying better information and succeeding. Thats when ETH is going to pop off etc


Anyone can create a ICO, thats the problem. If companies can get money from investors without supplying information then we will see this ico frenzy continue. As investors we need to use our brains and stop investing and allowing the promotion of these stupid projects.

It doesnt matter if there is a organization or a company that assesses the ICo's. The investors who are investing are the real problems.

1% of ICO's on the market actually have good information.



Are you saying you have a ICO and want to comply with the standards? If yes, then it means you have to watch my video and add the things I explain are absent.

Not sure what your asking though, feel free to PM me.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?

It gets much clearer if you rethink ICO in traditional business terms (debt, security, bonds, etc.). It is not only very refreshing but this is how regulators everywhere in the World see this. And tomorrow or next day they will come and ask questions.

There is a simple answer to all of that. Going back to cash and gold seems to fit perfectly the needs for a regulated trade.

This is a good analysis. I am sharing your views. I think we need to learn the hard and bitter way for us to finally realize that we really need to do something in order for ICO to survive. There are good projects and ICOs out there that will most probably succeed in their niche but the sad thing is that ICOs are now regarded generally as more of a scam. This is because of the so many scams using the ICO as a way to earn easy money. The people are gullible that's why there must be a standard so that there will be no more victims.

I think those conducting ICO's have a social responsibility to lift the standards of ICO and be more accountable to their actions. If the industry wants to succeed it should be on the front foot with regulating itself and holding itself to a higher standard. Greater transparency and standards within the industry is definitely needed.

Unfortunately it will probably take a whole lot of people getting their fingers burnt with their investments to really have the incentive required for these changes to occur.

Exactly so it is better we learn from past experiences and stop funding these ICO's.



I think the best projects out right now, are the ones that dont have tokens. Lots of scams in the market right now, and with more standards we can start to ween them out although we cant get rid of them completely.





Exactly, I am hoping more people see the need for change. It will all fix itself eventually because like you said, people will get burned. Then hopefully they will realize there is a need for change.

In 21st century we are already tired of standards and regulations and this explains the boom of the cryptos and ICOs. If you want standards and regulations you can go the traditional way which we have at present. You mentioned it in your last sentence "As investors we need to make smarter decisions with our precious coins".

I think it should be standart practice that funds unlock at milestones. For example 1/3 unlocked when BETA release, 1/3 when full platform release etc.

Regulation and standards are 2 different things. Making standards is not restrictive to the ICO frenzy.



That would certainly be nice

At the moment, ICO as many as they are is still better than your traditional IPO! In the traditional ipo and deriavatives, you can not know the inside secret and trading taking place because that system is not open. But in crypto furrency it is not so. Everything is in the open and you can dig out the minutest secret!

What do you mean it is "better" than a traditional IPO. Are you talking about insider trading or what? I am very confused as to what you are even trying to say. I would stay away from trying to compare the stock market and the crypto currency market.

Who should make these regulations? is there any team or people who can regulate ICOs? between nice point of view we really need to clear scam ICOs.

I guess we are in a transition phase from the period when people would invest in ICOs just as ICO flippers (resell immediately for inflated price) and the period where people are discovering that if the project sucks, so does their investment.

Standardization is so much needed in the crypto world because any one can wake up in a day, create a coin and go for an ICO but if there is a standard this will reduce a lot of shit coins creation and scams by developers. It will also give the mainstream society especially those that do not have faith in digital currency a reason to belief in crypto coins . Regulation is needed for full acceptance of crypto currencies

Us. Investors, crypto currency enthusiasts. We need to spread our thoughts and opinions because it is regular people that are investing in these coins without a second thought. We as investors and enthusiasts need to stick together to help promote this idea of extra layer standards. 



People seem to forget business investing strategies that have been around for many many years. People often will go completely against traditional investing ideas, which is why we are seeing such a painful backlash.





Exactly, and these standards will arise whether we petition for them or not. People are going to start getting burned and investments that were made with the first round of this ICO frenzy are going to start coming back soon. And when that happens, the market is going to turn sour for a period of time. People need to wake up now and fix this problem before it gets worse.

2 minimum standards you can add to determine if an ICO is good:

One get google dev tools to determine what frontend tech stack they use - I use BuiltWith Technology Profiler and Wappalyzer. If they cant build a decent frontend website that means they will never be able to build anything better (more so DApps). If your dev tool shows you WordPress or Wix - huge red flag.

Second - look at Github. ICO's these days are even forgoing GitHub. If you can't see any development activity on GitHub, you know it's a pump and dump scheme or a get rich quick scheme

They should still use the OP suggestions in the whitepaper, I think that is the biggest deal.

To avoid scams the folks who do the ICO should keep 10 % of the ICO money as a secuirty . This helps to avoid any future scam as there is no body such as SEC to vet the ICO's.

That really wont solve anything. Plus I am looking into more of the investor and their safety.

Who else thinks that we need more ICO standards?

you have a good point of here and your intention is good but we dont have existing board that can filterout ICOs or even give reviews.

I agree with you, the current ICO market does need certain rules, otherwise anyone can release an ICO! This is clearly unreasonable and requires the joint supervision of all countries

This is a big problem, and I think some of these accounting based coins will help solve this problem. If we dont get more information the next generation investors are going to have a terrible time evaluating the different coins.

These standards should be regulated by all the big coins like Ethereum because many of ICOs are ethereum based coins they need to implement such rules to prevent scams from ICOS.

"Regulation" is a swear word to innovation. However as a community we just need to be smarter and make smarter decisions. Scams will always exist, we just need to hold these coins to more of a standard.

This is a very important topic, as it is a huge problem in the crypto currency world. Does anyone have any new suggestions?

Ha, so where did you get this number? Got a source?

Though standards would be nice.  Eventually when more money gets into the Coin game the regulators of society will likely want to get involved.  It is already happening to a degree.

That might be the regulation we need, to bring in ICO standards which need to happen. Regulation to a degree can be bad, but we need a change.

Who else would like the idea of ICO standards, or appose it?

I fully support the idea for ICO standards. My personal interaction with people running ICO's ----- let's make money, use the money to get a yacht/get paid stipend and hire someone else to do the development. I am actually planning to start one. PM me if anyone is interested, I have plan and if we get enough people on board we can start one.

 

For a lot of different companies this certainly does happen. A team of 5 people getting 50m in funding can be very problematic.

I have been seeing more and more ICOs implement KYC. This is a good step in the right direction and I hope we see more and more steps!

I think it is quite difficult to implement country specific regulations. The ICO projects could just bypass it by registering itself in some countries that don't regulate ICOs.
As cryptocurrencies are all about decentralisation, I believe there should be community driven effort to self regulate these ICOs.
I could see there are some platforms trying to do that, it takes time for them to grow and mature and to become the gold standard in the crypto world.

I dont think we necessarily need regulations, we need standards as a community. We need to stand out against the shitty projects and get smarter with what we allow to pass.

I agree, i would suggest that the new projects/ companies that aim to receive big funds from ico should be registered thoroughly by the local authorities, the business plan, team, company should be scrutinized thoroughly and after satisfaction and registration of each aspect the authority should give NOC to the project for the iCO, this will prevent fake or low quality projects to pass through this screening.

Thank you for the video and the insight there in. The effect of scam ICO can never be over emphasis, more exposure and deterant need to be established to save guard  genuine ICO.

First of all ICO projects should be a legally registered company and they must follow every rules and regulations in the respected country. For investors they must make KYC and AML policies mandatory which must be conducted in a strict manner. Team members profiles must be completely transparent without any black marks.

I appreciate the comment :) If you have any suggestions feel free to add them.

Who else thinks we should have some ico standards. Since the starting of this, we have seen people get smarter and the government has put pressure for ICO's to add KYC information.

There is no way all investors or cryptocurrency enthusiasts will have the same knowledge based idea that can be used to identify scam projects or ICOs that are not likely going to succeed. This is more reasons we need regulations. This way,even an investor that is still a novice will feel safe to invest, without having any cause whatsoever to panic. By then, the standards would have been laid down.

Some regulations will actually help the industry, but people need to do research which is the key. LOTS of scams are very easily spotted.

Self-regulation in the activities of ICO will not help us get rid of fraudulent projects, as this will not be necessary for them. Therefore, we cannot do without state regulation of ICO activities. Government agencies will identify each member of the ICO team and most likely control the collection of funds and even their targeted use.
But to allow the ICO team to the possession of our confidential information is impossible. If such a KYC check is necessary, it should also be collected by a government agency.

This is cool and I pray it happens one day so that the money and interest of investors will be protected from scammers and lazy developers and and if this could be standard of the industry, then many people will believe in it.

Great idea or suggestions because there so many icos project are fake
Talking about how to implement standard rules and regulations making icos project is the first need to consider
Second the legality of the project 3rd the reputation of devs but how can do this?

I think people just need to be more educated on the possible risks and actual understanding of the market. There are people who still think the cryptocurrency market is just free money since bitcoin was booming. If people hold ICO's and companies to higher standards then things will change. I think we have already started to see some of the changes.

I think your opinion is right. You will be a good ICO analyst, maybe you can try to become analyst in ICObench? I'm fond of quality ICO reviews and you can do them. Just try!