The latest report from the ‘Big Four’ financial auditing giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) that Initial Coin Offerings are gaining a lot of momentum and has managed to raise a staggering amount of $13.7 billion during the first five months of 2018. The report goes to state that the ICO market is quite heated up with 537 ICOs being conducted till the May 2018. This comes as a big surprise as the crypto market has witnessed a severe meltdown with interest among the retail investors fading away.

Daniel Diemers, the head of Blockchain EMEA at PwC Strategy, has performed the research for this report working in cooperation with the Crypto Valley along with four independent researchers from New York, Hong Kong, and Zurich. The report has been titled: Initial Coin Offerings: a Strategic Perspective. It reads:

“[Researchers] highlighted continued growth and popularity of ICOs globally in 2018, with over 537 ICOs conducted in the first five months of this year, raising a combined total of $13.7 billion USD – more than all ICOs which took place before 2018 combined. Going forward this quarterly report on global ICO activity will continue to track the changes and developments in the industry as it undergoes continuous expansion and substantive change.”

The report highlights one important fact that majority of the investments in the ICOs have been made by investors holding Bitcoin and Ethereum in large numbers. This is contrarian to the belief of many analysts who have been claiming that there is fresh new money entering the crypto space. The report instead suggests that there has just been shift of hands and fund circulation taking place by shifting from cryptocurrency investments to ICO investments.

A report presented by Fortune earlier this year in 2018, however, showed that half of the ICO launched last year in 2017 have failed to meet its destination and some of them have also eventually died. The report mentioned that 46% of the ICOs have died. The high failure rate and very poor performance of ICOs last year have drawn the attention of regulatory bodies from the globe and ICOs have remained as the most debated topics in the crypto space.

However, Diemer believes that as a result of the increased scrutiny the ICO market has turned more mature over the course of last year. He believes that going further, the legal aspects and investors relations of ICOs are sure to improve thereby reducing the high failure rate. He said:

“After all the hype of 2017, this year has seen the ICO sector becoming more mature and established, with an improved focus on best business and legal practice, investor relations and fundraising. Hybrid models of combined Venture Capital and ICO financing are increasingly bringing together the best of what both have to offer, so that the soundness of a business is validated while it realises its market potential by receiving crowd support.”

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