Bitcoin Forum

Hello there guys! New to the forum, although I've been into crypto for few months now and I find it the most interesting phenomenon in technology and economy in the last maybe 10 years.

I wanted to kick-start a discussion about something I've been thinking last few days.
Most ICOs so far come from Europe and there is so much crypto tech talent coming from Russia and the former Soviet republics that I couldn't but ask myself "What does that mean?".

Since the mass adoption of Internet almost all innovation has come from Silicon valley. The startup era, the VCs, the unicorns, the big bubble. Europe and Asia has always been a step behind SV. There are numerous funds, VCs and startups all over the globe but somehow it's always been the second league and most importantly - the funds that's been invested in startups in USA can't be compared to anywhere else. You get 5-10 times more funded for the same idea in USA than in Europe.

But there's the new trend. ICOs are flourishing and $10M-20M token sales are becoming a standard for a good(not perfect, just good) ICO in 2018. Most of the ICOs are launched in Europe, most of the talent is coming from Central and Eastern Europe.

What do you think - will that significantly shift the economy of innovation? Will the rest of the world catch up with Silicon Valley thanks to ICOs?

We live in interesting times guys ;)

Ivan

These days regulation of ICOs is very strict and complex in the US as compared to European countries like Switzerland. So it is natural for ICOs to flock to these safe havens to launch their ICOs. I think Silicon Valley will still hold the number one spot as only a matter of time before these European countries begin to issue strict regulation policies on ICOs same way as the US.

Yup, forgot to mention it, but it's one more reason the trend's developing in these regions. :)

They know they've got a better chance of being funded for their tech projects so yes, it will give them a helping hand. The thing is, with the US, they always have larger companies that may invest or buy the start-up (companies like FB are notorious for this). I haven't heard of any large company that calls Eastern Europe its home so there may be a lack of domestic investors, which is rarely a problem in the US.

Yup that is why countries like Estonia and Latvia are becoming the places to setup these types of business due to regulations being more relaxed. I think also recently Belarus made a declaration about bitcoin that was positive but I cant recall right now. Ah yes they legalized it which again is a bullish sentiment coming from otherwise not supportive regimes. https://www.rt.com/business/414195-bitcoin-mining-belarus-cryptocurrency/

It is not necessarily that the innovation is coming from those countries, the devs and their lawyers are trying to find places that are more welcoming when it comes to their regulation, this is nothing new, Apple an American company has many other enterprises all over the world and they use that in order to avoid their taxes, so icos are doing the same.

That's true, but most talent is actually coming from the countries of origin of the ICOs.


That's a good (and both sad) point there. There are no real unicorns in Europe, but maybe that's just what's going to change with the rise of the ICOs - what do you think? :)

Opinions seem to differ about this one. I looked up one of my Watched videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSU5MFPn6Zk The guy gave a number of reasons he believed why Europe lost its tech giants. I can agree with him up to some point. I remember when I was in high school, everyone's phone was a Nokia.

Maybe they are shifting their focus? It seems in general that when Europe produce stuff, they focus on the high-end and leave consumer electronics to countries like China or South Korea. Heard they are focusing more on AI now.

I think yes, Silicon Valley is very up front, and ICO's in Europe little catch up in terms of technology and innovation

The US seems to dominate tech innovation because of its many advantages, of which fund raising is just one. The US is the world's largest economy and Silicon Valley benefits from access to it. The use of English is also an advantage, which say Eastern European countries may not have.
As far as ICOs are concerned, they tend to bridge the funding aspect but other disadvantages remain. That said, the Scandinvian countries are considered a hotbed of innovation, in spite of the above mentioned disadvantages.

Eastern europe cannot compete with Silicon Valley. There is just too much difference in tech eco-system.

This is a very interesting premise!

The short answer for me is: No.

But in reality the answer will follow the market or material value created by the portfolio of ICOs coming out of Eastern Eirope.

It’s not that they are crypto currency or token based, it’s what these new companies create for the world. If Eastern Europe sees more Vitaliks, the future will be very, very bright!


Whoch ICOs do you see as offering the greatest utility to the world?

There are genius inventors like Vitaliks in many countries. What makes Silicon Valley unique is the whole tech ecosystem.

Indeed, America's strict oversight of ICO has given other countries a lot of opportunities.
Because silicon valley is known to be the cradle of technology development, if they can't, teams in other countries may be ahead of the United States. ;D