Bitcoin Forum

I've noticed that the ICO space has really heated up the past few months. A lot of the discussion has been about specific ICO's, and I want to focus this thread on the larger effects this is having on the crypto space and business in general (competition, regulation, etc.). Here's my two cents: It seems like a lot of the recent ICO's are trying to cash in on a craze without providing anything new or unique to the world. They are creating excessive competition over unnecessary tokens. Does everyone realize the benefits, or lack thereof, of the technology they are investing in? Is it possible this is hindering cooperation across the crypto community?

I do believe in the future there will be more pseudo-ICO's built on a hybrid platform, combining other internet services with cryptocurrencies. Crowdfunding is a great example of this, but also social networking in general. For instance, this thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1964417) considers the possibility of funding brick-and-mortar retail stores or restaurants with cryptos. How can we adapt ICO's in the future to meet these market needs?

Your absolutely correct, most ico's are riding a bubble and are just clones of something else with a different name.  Innovative ideas are much better investments than competitive ones.

Me and my team have been working on a platform in which a major company has stake in.  I'm excited to announce it in the near future.

Sure many ico's will be worthless os scams,ico's needs infrastructure,now most of oco's are experiencing ddos attacks

Yes, we are surely seeing upward surge in number of ico. These ico can easily be classified into two categories as you mentioned namely sh*tcoin and project based coin.
But it seems to me that public is aware and smart enough these days to distinguish between these projects and as a result of which we have seen many hollow projects meeting harsh ending no matter how huge their marketing was. So in my views, ico are moving in right direction and adding essential essence in development of blockchain world as most of them have innovative project associated.

I have been following Ethereum-based projects for a while and there have been a lot of exciting ICOs in the recent past (such as Golem, Iconomi, BAT, TenX and others).

I see the blockchain technology and specially the smart contracts playing a major role in revolutionizing exchange of goods and services in a decentralized way.

ICOs are a good way to finance good projects avoiding traditional red tapes and paperwork, but the success of promising projects ICOs led to some people believing they can raise millions without a good plan or innovative idea.

Of course there will still be some good ICOs, but you need to separate the wheat from the chaff before thinking about investing.

Since ICOs are drawing a lot of attention, we can expect more regulation in the future, as recent news about the SEC are showing.

As the time goes a website won't be enough to run a successful ICO.
A working prototype with a proven business model will be a must.