Are ICO’s bad?

No, but let me explain why and what ICO’s are. ICO are investment vehicles for investments through cryptocurrencies. Why would you want to raise money in cryptocurrency? Because it allows you to have autonomy.

Most of us by now know bitcoin and its huge increase in worth. ICO are in many ways similar to an investment series a or b,c,d,e,f,g ….. in the venture capital world, that is being glamourized by the media. Why would you want to invest in a company by using cryptocurrency? Because everybody can invest in your compaany, without the legal barriers. Does it have its negative aspects, sure. But it is decentralized, anonymous and secure. But in essence and this is the attractive part, you do not have to give up equity or shares in your company then with a tradional vc. The downside, you have to be technological advanced, somewhat.

Also you have to be knowlegable in the IT department to handle transactions, convert cryptocurrency and most importantly understand the company behind it. So someone who is in sense dyslectic with technology, will have adopting problems.

Another downside is that most cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, example; you could lose more than half worth of your current investment in cryptocurrency IF you have no investment/market experience what so ever. You don’t need an MBA or a business background but opening a self-help book from Tim Ferriss or Tony Robbins in this department would be adviseable.

Why would you want to invest with cryptocurrencies? For one it more secure and it is anonymous. How do I mean secure? It using the blockchain, this is one of the (if not the) most secure payment platform in the world right now. Also when you are registered with a decent bitcoin exchange you are in good hands, still nothing is a 100% secure. When you are investing in the blockchain, keep a close eye and make sure you have a hardware wallet.

The most important aspect in my opinion is the total amount of a certain cryptocurrency that is eventually available. Tradional banks have the tedency to print money (with an expensive word: quantitative easing). This would never be possible with cryptocurrencies. So therefore it is more stable in the future.

Traditional banks tend to put in place policies into place that may have not been reviewed by independent third parties or peer-reviewed, in other words transparency. The technology that these cryptocurrency companies use is open source, which generates trust in my opinion.

Another plus is that some of these new financial cryptocurrencies startups have a foundation at their core. Why is this important? If in any case the founder would die or some else terrible would happen to the company, the technology of that company would still exist. Examples: Ethereum and Stellar Lumens.

In the end it is all about trust. The problem is that there is little trust in our political and monetary system right now. So should you invest with ICO’s? This up to you, do some good research, educate yourself, seriously!