For those who think that all ICOs are scams

[adolf512]

I agree that investing in an ICO project is a risk, but these risks can be justified in making a profit. Of course you need to be careful when choosing a project, because as we all know certain projects - scammers. Now the market has something to choose from and there are sites and groups of telegrams that simplify our search.

[thepo1m]

I think most of these developers are scamming people but don't know, what they are doing is very wrong, I know now they are using alot of clause in their terms and conditions to prevent them selves, but what they are selling to people is a useless tokens which is just for specualtive purpose and no real use. Mostof these people are just collecting money from people because tey know people will specualte on their tokens

[NathanJB]

Investing in the crypto world isn't that much different investing in the "real" world, they all follow fundamental rules.

1. Every investment comes with risk, no matter how certain you are.
2. With point 1 being said, do your research. Research the teams of the ICOs you are interested in, read their white papers, have at least basic understanding of the crypto world and see if you have faith in the products that the ICOs are bringing to the table. The more detail you have, the lower the potential risk you need to endure.
3. Once you have done your research and are aware of the uncontrollable potential risk, know that the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, are you a safe player or do you have the financial freedom to "go big or go home"?

Please know that I am using my sendable merit for the first time today because of this post. I don't care if I am sending it to a newbie or a legendary. I do it because the post is a quality one. It seems mine is the first merit of this guy/gal.

Anyhow, this post is a bull's eye. People from all over are complaining about ICOs as scams. ICO is not a scam. ICO is a unique and effective way for start-up projects to gain the necessary amount of capital they need in order for their vision and goals to hit the road. With this being said, ICO participation is not like joining a sweepstakes wherein everything is all about luck. ICO participation is all about choosing the best among them, the most promising.

[Muruga]

I don't agree with the statement that all ICO are scams. Look at coinmarketcap.com. There are more than 1500 coins, most of which are ICO projects.

[CryptRoller]

I try to asses bounty campaigns on these points. I think it's useful to use this also for ICOs:
1. Does the project have a good white paper?
2. Does it have a professional website (It's astonishing how many projects want to raise millions, but fail to invest in a good site)
3. Active community and managers? (telegram, twitter, facebook, github, bitcointalk)
4. Roadmap
5. What is the purpose of the project? (originality, feasibility, short-term goals, long-term goals)
6. Tone-of-voice / language (bad english, arrogance, unprofessional, etc)

It's not water tight, but it may help...

[longwintershere]

Investing in the crypto world isn't that much different investing in the "real" world, they all follow fundamental rules.

1. Every investment comes with risk, no matter how certain you are.
2. With point 1 being said, do your research. Research the teams of the ICOs you are interested in, read their white papers, have at least basic understanding of the crypto world and see if you have faith in the products that the ICOs are bringing to the table. The more detail you have, the lower the potential risk you need to endure.
3. Once you have done your research and are aware of the uncontrollable potential risk, know that the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, are you a safe player or do you have the financial freedom to "go big or go home"?

your points are legit. All ICOs are not a scam, some of them are. Same as with kickstarter campaigns or any other new projects outside the crypto industry. Find a good project and you will be happy investor.

[ChiBitCTy]

Investing in the crypto world isn't that much different investing in the "real" world, they all follow fundamental rules.

1. Every investment comes with risk, no matter how certain you are.
2. With point 1 being said, do your research. Research the teams of the ICOs you are interested in, read their white papers, have at least basic understanding of the crypto world and see if you have faith in the products that the ICOs are bringing to the table. The more detail you have, the lower the potential risk you need to endure.
3. Once you have done your research and are aware of the uncontrollable potential risk, know that the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, are you a safe player or do you have the financial freedom to "go big or go home"?

your points are legit. All ICOs are not a scam, some of them are. Same as with kickstarter campaigns or any other new projects outside the crypto industry. Find a good project and you will be happy investor.

US Gov bonds are virtually risk free.  Unless we go to war and most of us die or something close to..maybe then they default (1 example).  You guys are misguided.  99% of the ICO's are all idea based.  Flashy, sexy sounding wording etc etc...but in reality most are a pipe dream.  I'f you aren't making something happen soon..people will dump your coin.  I've read nearly half of last year's ICO's are essentially dead.  Bitcoin is the only GOOD bet in crypto right now...period.  

Higher the risk..higher the reward does not apply to ICO's and that doesn't even make a lick of sense here.  Well...Bitconnect supporters said the same thing for a while...they were KINDA right...until they lost all their money to the FIRST exit scam BCC pulled.  They are all equally massively risky and if one is riskier than another than it's a bad project.

[Baronggot]

Let us all remember that crypto investment is risky by nature. In the case of ICO, investment is way more risky than those cryptos that are already available/listed in the market. Of course, in ICO, you are investing in a crypto that has not yet listed in crypto markets and there may be a possibility that the ICO will fail. It's really tough but if you will just research and investigate how legit and potential this ICO may be, then that'll be fine.

[Brothersav]

Investing in the crypto world isn't that much different investing in the "real" world, they all follow fundamental rules.

1. Every investment comes with risk, no matter how certain you are.
2. With point 1 being said, do your research. Research the teams of the ICOs you are interested in, read their white papers, have at least basic understanding of the crypto world and see if you have faith in the products that the ICOs are bringing to the table. The more detail you have, the lower the potential risk you need to endure.
3. Once you have done your research and are aware of the uncontrollable potential risk, know that the higher the risk, the higher the reward. So, are you a safe player or do you have the financial freedom to "go big or go home"?

Although you argue that every investment carries risk, cryptocurrency is unregulated with makes the investment far far far more risky than ipo investments. I cross reference all team members to make sure they're not legitimate. If their website doesn't even mention team members or their ohotos are unprofessional I immediately move on. Best bet is to cash out initial investment once you have made some gains.

[globalcitizen]

Definitely not all ICOs are scams. Many have proven to be while many others have proven not to be. That's the reason every investor must properly research project before putting more into it to avoid being scammed. All ICOs are not scams but you got to be wise to escapepotential scam projects.

[Faeton]

Despite all the shortcomings of the ICO, this activity is very useful and necessary for the development of the crypto currency. Not to say bad about ICO, however they create good tokens, which have specific functions and bring considerable comfort and convenience to people.

[ankurguta87]

Not all ICOs are scam but few of them are scams, for example, MCAP token. Even though this token is listed and trading is on. But parent company of this token Gainbitcoin broke all mining contract and forced all users to get payout in MCAP @ 30x higher price. So ultimately users got 1/30 of their investment. Now they have launched a different website to cheat new set of customers. It is difficult to judge a scammer.

[Anita1873]

Not all ICO's are scam nor all are genuine. We have to study a lot of things to know about any ICO and then we can decide about a particular ICO. We have to study the whitepaper which gives us a lot of information about the company and their future plan. Then we have to check the team working behind it and their experience to handle the projects. Then we have to check the viability of the project, can it be sustain in long run.

[Sir Cross]

I agree that investing in an ICO project is a risk, but these risks can be justified in making a profit. Of course you need to be careful when choosing a project, because as we all know certain projects - scammers. Now the market has something to choose from and there are sites and groups of telegrams that simplify our search.

Not all of the time. The chance of losing your money may be greater than the chance of gaining profit. There are plenty of scams out there which makes it hard to tell which project would be good and profitable in the future. Just by looking at the current market, it can be seen that there are numerous coins that probably wouldn't prosper in the future. The same can be said with ICOs because they are too numerous and some projects are already of the same kind.

[Ceballos]

In 2017 47% of ICO investments failed.
This is not bad for me at least more then 50% is legit and people who invested in them gaining their profits.

[ksiazek7]

actually things happen is not a fraud, but they are wrong choosing ico which makes itself stuck in a project that has no future. they already understand that investing in crypto has a very high risk, it's just that they are not careful and think that investing here is easy.

Exactly, its risky.  Just because they failed doesn't = scam.  That's why I hate the blanket 90% are scams I see floating around these boards.

[yugyug]

ICOs are synonymous to crowdfunding or kick starter, they are far different from IPOs of stock market where are already existing company although there are some ICOs from existing companies like Cappasity ad Docademic these companies existed almost 3 years and need some funding to further develop product and services but there are also ICOs that are built for concept and need funding to materialise that idea, there are more risk involve in this kind of ICOs

[ChiBitCTy]

In 2017 47% of ICO investments failed.
This is not bad for me at least more then 50% is legit and people who invested in them gaining their profits.

So everyone who invested in the 50% that didn't die...made profits?  Sweet!  But false. 

[carlisle1]

actually things happen is not a fraud, but they are wrong choosing ico which makes itself stuck in a project that has no future. they already understand that investing in crypto has a very high risk, it's just that they are not careful and think that investing here is easy.

buy most of the time.ico projects offers you heaven and the content of every details about the projects are legit,scammers are aware of what the real one should do the copycat project released as original.no one wanted to be victim of scammers so never blame someone from trusting them for income

[coingrow]

In addition to my own research, I like putting my money into ICO's that have some reputed advisers in the advisory board. That is because I believe that they would have done their own research before letting the ICO use their name as they have a reputation to maintain.