With all of the hype surrounding cryptocurrency ICOs these days, some apparent issues are coming to the surface. Anyone looking to host an ICO may want to consider a few important things before taking the plunge. Below are a handful of the most common “issues” people have when it comes to cryptocurrency ICOs. It is virtually impossible to achieve all of the things below, though.
6. Scam Sites Related to Pre-ICO Investing
A lot of the big ICOs have been suffering from fake websites popping up to trick investors into parting with their money. This is quite problematic, as a lot of people have lost significant amounts of money due to these scams. It is hard to avoid such things when organizing an ICO, though, but it is good to keep tabs on these fake sites at all times and take the necessary action whenever possible.
5. Community Management
It is quite baffling to see how many cryptocurrency ICOs struggle to focus on community management. Before, during, and after the fundraising, people will have tons of questions. Appointing community managers is of the utmost importance in this regard. Otherwise, projects will get buried under layers of FUD, misinformation, and sheer lies. Every ICO needs at least two or three community members to keep investors informed and in line whenever needed.
4. Displaying ICO tokens in Ethereum Wallets
One of the most recurring issues with cryptocurrency ICOs is how most Ethereum wallets will not display these new tokens automatically. This is especially true for the more popular wallet services. MyEtherWallet lets users add custom tokens, though, which is of great help in this regard. A solution will need to be found for this problem sooner or later, that much is evident. Informing potential investors on how to display token balances would be a good start.
3. Accepting Multiple Currencies
To some cryptocurrency ICO teams, it may sound convenient to accept multiple cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin, Ether, Waves, and their payment solutions are all quite popular. This can be quite problematic when issuing ERC20 tokens, though. Ethereum’s smart contract technology is excellent at automatically issuing tokens for ETH transactions. Other currencies, unfortunately, are a bit of a problem. This means teams need to decide to either only accept ETH deposits, or use a different system to raise funds and issue tokens afterward.
2. Centralized Website is a No-Go
Over the past few months, we have seen multiple cryptocurrency ICOs raise millions of dollars without much effort. For some unknown reason, most of these ICOs can only be accessed through a centralized website. This is absolutely unacceptable, as these servers can get overloaded relatively quickly. There is no reason to use a centralized platform for an ICO whatsoever. These projects are all about decentralized technology, so start using it before asking for people’s money.
1. Exchange Listings Within 72 hours
Investor expectations need to be taken into account at all times during a cryptocurrency ICO. Right now, the general sentiment among “investors” is how the tokens need to be traded on a major exchange within 48-72 hours after the crowdsale concludes. They do not care whether or not that is even a feasible goal, though. Any ICO token not listed on Bittrex or Poloniex within that allotted time is written off as a failure. This creates a very toxic environment among ICO enthusiasts, as it highlights most people don’t care about the projects, but just want to make a quick buck.
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