Why so few ICOs from Silicon Valley?

[digital_weezer]

I also think cost has to play a role in it, very few ICO's break the 100 million mark. Most only break a couple of million. That money doesn't go as far as in other areas, / countries.

[sjbi]

USA is hostile to cryptocurrency and ICOs and they have acutally made it difficult for an ICO issuing company to collect funds from places within their jurisdiction.

[slaman29]

Why do you think so few ICOs are out of Silicon Valley??

Silicon Valley obviously led the last wave of tech development (roughly 1990 - 2010). There's a great deal of entrepreneurship there. There's one of the highest concentration of code developers there, if not the highest concentration in the world. There's venture cap, there's incubators, there's just about everything you should need to be leading the next wave.

And yet... so many of the ICOs are not from the San Fran bay area! In fact, most of the really big, promising ones are not even remotely related to California and often not even the USA. Why do you guys think that is??

Not just San Fran. Look at Switzerland and Netherlands and Singapore. So much fintech there, so few ICOs. If any.

I think a lot of the start-ups there are connected, or prefer to go through connections and networking to get their funding. With crypto, I guess they also go for the so-called angel investors and so on. ICOs may get them funding, but they still won't have the networks or reputation, that you get from being linked to the big names. ICOs are still people hiding in the dark, for the most part.

[Gleb Gamow]

I know at least 3 projects from Silicon Valley. I think there are a lot projects which are correlated with SV.

What are those 3 projects?

Hint:

[100degrees]

VC's also want a good chunk of your business for some upfront cash. An ICO gives you much more control and you get to keep your percentage in it.

[Argon2]

Why do you think so few ICOs are out of Silicon Valley??

Silicon Valley obviously led the last wave of tech development (roughly 1990 - 2010). There's a great deal of entrepreneurship there. There's one of the highest concentration of code developers there, if not the highest concentration in the world. There's venture cap, there's incubators, there's just about everything you should need to be leading the next wave.

And yet... so many of the ICOs are not from the San Fran bay area! In fact, most of the really big, promising ones are not even remotely related to California and often not even the USA. Why do you guys think that is??

Nobody in Silicon Valley works on cryptocurrencies. Why would they when they are working on self-driving cars, satellites and more important things? Did you know the average engineer makes $225,000 a year in Silicon Valley? Go read up!

[Nutt]

They can get crowdfunding.

There is no reason for ICO.

[triads]

Hint:

Gleb Gamow, pray tell!

(I searched by I couldn't find anything at that address... just a bunch
of bars are restaurants.)

[Spoetnik]

VC's also want a good chunk of your business for some upfront cash. An ICO gives you much more control and you get to keep your percentage in it.

You are not investors.
You are purchasing a currency.
You are not "investing" in "startups".
Nor should you be.. the point of this is to avoid the corporations.
Not buy a coin from them  

Morphing Bitcointalk/Crypto into a Bitcoin Rip-Off / Kickstarter scam site for centralized exchange profits is utterly retarded.. and scammy as hell.

You have no right calling yourselves investors or even talking on this matter.
Unless you want to bring up the fact that an IPO is regulated and this scammy shit is not.
Martha Stewart went to fucking jail for insider trading for fuck sakes idiots.
Penny stocks my god damn ass.
You are deliberately pursuing a new scam technique.
Instead of Water Filter scams from the 80's it's crypto coins now.

All crypto is..
Is a new age version of old scams.. crypto-ponzi / pyramid scheme "tokens"

You call yourselves investors yet write endless blank checks with no assurance you will get anything back from "the startup" ?
Do you ask for accountability ? DO you check up on them and hold their feet to the fire when you hand them millions ?
Fuck no.. you buy your "tokens" then dump them on an exchange then forget about it.
Where is the board of investors asking questions ?
Oh Spoetnik means FUD ? Yeah that is bad in crypto isn't it ?

You are scammy broken English noob brats pushing illegal scammy bullshit.
I don't like you and hope you all get ripped off.
Thanks for taking over and fucking up crypto forever.
And that goes for all the Legendary accounts who are STILL Here joining in with the scammy parade for BITCOIN PROFITS.
I know you fuckheads are here watching me..
Your type is even worse.. you know better. (unlike the noobs)

[NateBronson]

Watch the TechCrunch Disrupt SF talks that happen this week. Many of the VC managers said they were looking into ICOs. I think it was a partner at DFJ that said they had a team of 10 people that read whitepapers all day.

[Wyre08]

Why do you think so few ICOs are out of Silicon Valley??

Silicon Valley obviously led the last wave of tech development (roughly 1990 - 2010). There's a great deal of entrepreneurship there. There's one of the highest concentration of code developers there, if not the highest concentration in the world. There's venture cap, there's incubators, there's just about everything you should need to be leading the next wave.

And yet... so many of the ICOs are not from the San Fran bay area! In fact, most of the really big, promising ones are not even remotely related to California and often not even the USA. Why do you guys think that is??

Nobody in Silicon Valley works on cryptocurrencies. Why would they when they are working on self-driving cars, satellites and more important things? Did you know the average engineer makes $225,000 a year in Silicon Valley? Go read up!

Lol it's more like $100-150k

[soronmar]

ICOs are mainly used to get some funding for a project.
Now if you are working in the Silicon Valley, you probably know enough Venture Capital firms (and managers) which can help you with (pre)funding.

ICOs are not necessary in this case than.

[evski]

Swarm Fund is based out of silicon valley

the project looks very promising

https://www.forbes.com/sites/giovannirodriguez/2017/08/16/can-swarm-fund-help-the-cryptocurrency-market-finally-enter-the-mainstream/#3c562d2f2e77

https://swarm.fund/

[styca]

The position of the US government in relation to ICOs must be a considerable factor. And also their antagonism towards cryptocurrencies in general.

[zenmining]

I think that ICO is more interesting for places far away from venture investors.

If I was in SV the easiest way to rise funding is to find investor even in seed round. But if I live in other place where to find investor very hard - ICO is silver bullet. I think so.

When I first time heard about ICO I wonder that it is revolution for me and my teammates. We live far away from SV but our dream was to build our own awesome web-application. With ICO we can rise funding and than we can develop awesome product and throw away outsourcing developing.

[triads]

It's true that there's more access to Venture and Angel funding in SV.  But from the
people I know there, they say that getting funding is still pretty challenging. And unlike
an ICO, VC funding means you give a big chunk of your company to the investors.

So there are definitely downsides to VC funding. And definitely incentives to consider
ICOs instead.

[steveouttrim]

There are plenty of Silicon Valley people involved in crypto and ICOs. But they are running them out of different jurisdictions, eg. Tim Draper with Bancor (Switzerland), Credo (China/UAE/Spain/Russia)

The regulatory system in the US is behind the times and struggling with crypto. They will make ICOs difficult thinking that is helping protect their people from fraud - in one of the most corrupted, fraud-ridden governments - meanwhile other countries will see future economic growth from embracing the blockchain.

Silicon Valley VCs still rule the world, but not for much longer. Expect them all to be doing blockchain funds within 2-3 years.

VCs look for something that can go from 0 to $1 billion in 12 months. Token investors look for concepts and companies they want to support that will get more popular in the future. Evolution = tokens, not VCs.

[ev3nout]

There are...just don't think they've marketed yet.

I've been taking a look at SyncFab (https://blockchain.syncfab.com). They've been established in the Silicon Valley for the last two years and looking to build a blockchain to revolutionize the industrial manufacturing industry even more.

Would love to hear your thoughts on it.

Also, a reason why Silicon Valley companies haven't gone ICO is b/c a lot have VC investments already - going ICO would break or complicate any agreement in place.

[iluvbtc]

Why do you think so few ICOs are out of Silicon Valley??

Silicon Valley obviously led the last wave of tech development (roughly 1990 - 2010). There's a great deal of entrepreneurship there. There's one of the highest concentration of code developers there, if not the highest concentration in the world. There's venture cap, there's incubators, there's just about everything you should need to be leading the next wave.

And yet... so many of the ICOs are not from the San Fran bay area! In fact, most of the really big, promising ones are not even remotely related to California and often not even the USA. Why do you guys think that is??

Very good observation!!! I work for a Fortune 50 S/W comp in Silicon Valley, and haven't heard a peep about Dapps or blockchain technologies. I think it threatens a lot of these companies

[pure_happiness_inside]

Has anyone ever heard of blockchains at berkeley? Not an ICO, but they do lots of great blockchain projects, consults for companies, and offers classes and lots of great events.