ICO Incentives... what really makes sense to you?

[Saj.Daya]

Hey Guys

Could REALLY use some advice. I am thinking of launching an ICO in a few months, for a real company, a real product. Given the current advice out from the SEC, it seems everyone (lawyers, VCs etc) is very afraid of being associated with any kind of token that returns revenues, profits, etc to token holders. I feel a little lost in how to design the the token to ensure that investors (like you) find a token valuable enough to invest in.

So I guess my question boils down to: How do I make a PURE utility token valuable to guy (or gal) like you? Would you really invest in a utility token?

I'll lay out what I'm thinking, and would really appreciate some feedback/advice on what direction I should go in.

What I'm thinking:
1) As a utility token, anyone wishing to publish on our marketplace will need to deposit a token with us. This reduces supply, causing price over time to increase.

2) People can buy apps on our marketplace and pay for them with our token. Tokens are purchased from a public exchange from investors, and hence this creates real customer demand for the token and expands the number of people holding the token - theoretically resulting in an appreciation in price.

Does this sound like a valuable investment? What do you think we can do to improve this, in a way that's fair to all parties involved (the investor, the customer, and us), but doesn't raise eyebrows at the SEC?

If knowing what we do is meaningful (not a plug), we allow people to build Ethereum Smart Contracts in plain English without any code. Given the other tools on our platform, this means people businesses on top of our technology like an insurance brokerage, or a smart contract for the guy you found on craigslist to walk your dog. So why would anyone use our marketplace? Someone can build the insurance app once, and publish it to our marketplace, and lots of brokers can being using it (or customize it to their needs without having to build it from scratch). The guy wanting to use it can pay the guy who built it with our token. Everybody is a participant.

Really appreciate your input!
Saj

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[ss890]

I read your article thoroughly and it seems a good idea.

Actually I have started thinking that it will be more or less centralised currency whatever you gonna name it. Because you are controlling it with the use of it within your marketplace. Its like google play cards preloaded with the USD. That mean each card having specific value. In your case well you are having your own coins with equivalent USD at the launch or after the launch. Im not sure if you are completely getting it but your statement here says something similar:

People can buy apps on our marketplace and pay for them with our token. Tokens are purchased from a public exchange from investors, and hence this creates real customer demand for the token and expands the number of people holding the token - theoretically resulting in an appreciation in price.

So speaking about the supply you will actually provide the tokens as and when required by the user and you also not mentioned how you will circulate them? Like with exchanger or by the marketplace checkout itself? Thats going to be centralised I guess.

[Saj.Daya]

So speaking about the supply you will actually provide the tokens as and when required by the user and you also not mentioned how you will circulate them? Like with exchanger or by the marketplace checkout itself? Thats going to be centralised I guess.

We will ICO the tokens to investors, and people wishing to buy from someone on our marketplace, will need to buy the tokens via a public exchange (say shapeshift or someone like that). They're not buying the tokens from us. To reduce customer friction, we may provide an interface to a public exchange that exchanges fiat for tokens, but these tokens are purchased exclusively from a public exchange.