Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has grown into a major concept in the blockchain industry, it is serving as an effective way to power-up startups and boost existing enterprises. At the same time, ICOs are offering individuals from across the globe the opportunity to make investments and reap profits down the road.
The dynamics of the ICO concept introduces it as an appropriate channel for both speculative and long-term investment. This is evident with the results so far, with several tokens appreciating exponentially when they eventually get released into the general token market and exchanges.
To this effect, investors are becoming more analytical when making choices on the ICOs that they participate in. These analyses usually consider major factors that determine the sustainability, viability, and anticipated demand for an emerging product. It is these considered factors that will eventually determine the token value and the profit margin of any given investment in an ICO.
Based on value generation, the solutions that they bring and their adoption by the general public, the following blockchain products stand out as the top ICOs between the months of October and November 2017.
Gladius
Gladius Networks LLC is a distributed platform for content acceleration and DDoS protection based in the Ethereum blockchain. Using the blockchain enables anyone with a high-speed internet connection and spare computing power to join a pool and start accelerating and protecting websites.
A Gladius pool consists of a DNS server that returns IP addresses based on geographical location of the client, many high-speed nodes to filter and accelerate traffic, and a final proxy to protect the IP address of the destination server. Using this architecture enables a potential website to provide static content that is extremely geographically close to the client, while also protecting them by employing traditional DDoS mitigation techniques spread over an extremely fault-tolerant network. Websites can then purchase the power of these pools through a competitive decentralized marketplace ensuring the best prices and the best performance.
The introduction of Gladius solves one of the most pressing needs of internet users in recent times. Shielding one’s platform from DDoS attacks is a system that holds a lot of profit and is expected to find significant adoption across the ecosystem. However, Gladius does not just offer a security system but do so by creating an opportunity for regular internet users to earn financial rewards from participating in the process.
Using a computer’s spare bandwidth, anyone can join a protection pool and start making money by filtering and accelerating traffic. Websites can purchase the services of these pools through a marketplace that creates intense competition creating the best performance at the best prices.
Cryptopay
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are growing in popularity and more users are finding entry into the industry. The ability to buy, store and spend these cryptos is an essential aspect of the development of the novel technology and its ecosystem as a whole.
Cryptopay is one of the longest-running bitcoin and blockchain companies. The company has built an end-to-end solution to purchase, manage, and use crypto offering customer wallets, exchange services, merchant processing and crypto cards.
When looking at the overall industry we are still in early days and one of the main things holding back customer adoption is the lack of legacy financial services, which are available. This is precisely why Cryptopay has built a blockchain payment gateway to bridge that of legacy financial services with that of innovative technologies available via blockchain. Another key aspect holding back mass adoption is regulation. Without a clear regulatory framework many investors and businesses are still nervous to be associated or involved with crypto related activities but as the ecosystem grows so will the options to increase consumer adoption.
The Cryptopay ICO was launched in order to build a stocks brokerage offering. The current landscape for foreigners to actually invest in shares is ridden with friction and the goal of the company is to unravel this complexity.
TokenLab
In order to execute a successful ICO, there are fundamental elements that a given startup must consider such as;
First and foremost you need a good idea, preferably in the form of a working product but for some projects, a good business plan or white paper that details your idea will be good enough… Second of all you need a solid team who can execute your plan, and deliver the software or service you say you can deliver. Having industry advisors doesn’t hurt either. Third, you need a good marketing team. This wasn’t always the case in cryptocurrency but it is now. And last you need a starting budget because if you want your product seen then that is going to cost some initial capital.
Tokenlab is a complete ICO creation and management platform that runs on the Expanse.tech blockchain. Expanse is the first and most enduring fork of Ethereum, providing a secure and less expensive solution for dApps that have real-world utility. Built by industry-leading blockchain experts, Tokenlab’s patent-pending technology is already in use, having solidified deals to provide ICO management services for four diverse companies with ground-breaking ideas across a variety of industries. Its first ICO is for Tokenlab itself, with a three-tranche crowd sale goal of $12M, with the first phase selling out within three days.
“The proceeds from the Tokenlab ICO enable us to expand our development team, infrastructure and brand positioning in the space,” said Christopher J. Franko, Expanse Co-founder. “We are building a suite of ICO management services second to none, providing a seamless ICO experience for our clients. As a result, we will continue to augment our team with industry experts in a variety of disciplines.”
Cashaa
Transferring money for remittance or money lending across international borders is still complicated, time-consuming and expensive. Existing systems are slow and full of intermediaries, triggering higher exchange rates, weak counter-party risk checking, bureaucracy and extensive paperwork. The recent emergence of cryptocurrencies showed a silver lining to solve this issue. However, it turns out that consumers and businesses are struggling to leverage the benefits of the Blockchain infrastructure due to poor usability, non-customer centric approach, and improper legal implementation.
Cashaa is a gateway to consumer-centric and affordable financial products aimed at consumer adoption of Blockchain without having to understand the technical details of Blockchain technology. Cashaa’s wallet system linked with card, enables its community to deposit, transfer, spend, lend & borrow money to anyone from anywhere in the world with a simplified user experience in a legally compliant way.
Cashaa’s open platform approach also allows traditional financial institutions, banks and payment processors to reinvent and connect their products and services on the Blockchain infrastructure, making them more efficient, convenient and globally accessible.
The platform is solving a basic problem of moving money from one person to another in a simple and faster way. Once this issue is solved we will see a flood of inventions on Top of it, such as peer to peer lending across the border. Imagine a farmer in India (where the interest rate is in double digit) will able to get a loan from the person in Europe (where the interest rate is negative), will solve such a big problem making everyone win. A son working in London can keep his money in Cashaa wallet so that he can send it to his mom when she needs it 24/7, without telling his mom Bitcoin, Blockchain and most importantly even about Cashaa in his regular bank card given by local bank.
Value proposition
In the year 2017, the blockchain industry has experienced significant growth and we have seen a lot of products find expression on the blockchain. Many startups have experienced identifiable success in their ICOs while some others have not performed so well.
The industrial solution and ease of application are some of the factors that determine the success or not of an ICO. A product that promises to solve a pressing need will naturally receive a significant demand from the public. This explains why the above-mentioned products are showing impressive results in the token market and at the same time holding a lot of promise for a long-term solution in the online ecosystem as a whole.
