Israeli Startups Raised Over $600 Million USD Via ICOs In 2018

A recent report launched by the crypto analytics and research firm One Alpha surveyed all the Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) made in Israel in the first three quarters of 2018 and it concluded that the industry was able to raise over $600 million USD via ICOs so far.

The industry report was aimed to understand the market in Israel better and it counted 140 active blockchain-related companies for the research. According to the study, these companies received $1.3 billion USD worth of USD in investments and more than 60% of the companies are related to ICOs. ICOs also surpass more traditional means of funding for these companies like seed and angel venture capital investments.

The $600 million USD figure is very representative as the number is bigger than last year’s investments were. While it was not a huge leap, it shows that the ICO market is not struggling so much in Israel as it is in some other countries around the world.

One Alpha’s CEO, Yaniv Feldman, has told Coindesk that the figures show the strenght of the blockchain ecosystem in Israel. While Israelis are less than 0.1% of the world’s population, they are making between 3 to 5% of the world’s ICO fundraising amount now, meaning that the country is very focused in the blockchain technology and in innovation.

With such an emphasis on crypto technology in the country, it was a natural move for the Israeli government to start the regulation of cryptos. For instance, in March 2018, the Israel Securities Authority has recommended a set of regulations that were aimed to regulate the market and differentiate utilities from securities, a problem that haunts financial regulators all over the world.

Feldman believes that Israel might be very crypto friendly like Malta and Gibraltar but it is looking to regulate the industry in a way that it does not harm the local businesses and it is looking at the U. S. for guidance before regulating.

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