Token sales are one of the stages of so-called initial offerings, which differ in their procedure. At the moment, there are three methods of placement — ICO, IEO, and IDO. Today, we’re about to find out which ICOs, IDOs, and IEOs brought the most money to investors.
Main Types of Token Sales to Know
In the beginning, there were ICOs (Initial Coin Offering), which boomed in 2017 when startups were able to earn almost $5 billion through the sale of coins.
After a brief wave of popularity, the ICO’s reputation was not very good. Investors who invested money in projects complained about their poor quality and sometimes even accused them of scam. For example, according to one study, 80% of all ICOs conducted are fraudulent.
As a more secure alternative to ICOs, the idea of IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) emerged. In this case, a crypto exchange acts as an intermediary and a certain guarantor of the project’s security.
The newest type of placement is IDO (Initial DEX Offering), or initial decentralized exchange offering. The basis of such an exchange is a liquidity pool that provides trading activity on a platform.
In this article, we decided to find out which projects were the most successful for each of these ways to attract investment. As a criterion for success, we took the growth of a cryptocurrency rate compared to its placement price. Let’s get started!
The Most Successful ICOs
NEO
Chinese blockchain project NEO held an ICO in 2016. Then one NEO token could be purchased for only $0.15. At its peak in January 2018, the coin was worth more than $187.
At the time of this writing, the cryptocurrency is worth $42.57 — that is, NEO investors, in any case, profited from investing in the ICO.
Ethereum
Now it’s hard to believe, but creators of the second most popular cryptocurrency also raised funds for the project by ICO. The placement took place at the end of July 2014 and ended in early September.
Then, investors could buy 2K ETH coins with one Bitcoin. In total, Vitalik Buterin’s project managed to receive more than 31.5K BTCs or $18.4 million at that time.
The average Bitcoin price in July 2014 was around $550. That is, for $550, you could purchase two thousand ETH coins, which cost $9.6 million in November 2021.
Stratis
The British project Stratis, little known to the general public, cites the ability to create apps on the platform in different programming languages as its main advantage.
In the summer of 2016, the company received almost $601K from investors by selling cryptocurrency at $0.01 per coin. Five years later, the digital currency is worth $2.20. Of course, this result is not as impressive as ETH’s one. Nevertheless, in five years, the coin has risen in price by 22,000%.
The Most Successful IEOs
Bittorrent
Bittorent is known as one of the most popular file-sharing platforms. In 2019, the project creators held an IEO on the Binance exchange and raised more than $7 million. And if the cryptocurrency could be bought for $0.00012 during the placement, then it cost $0.01068 at its peak in April 2021 — an increase of almost 9000%.
Gate.io
The Chinese crypto exchange Gate.io held an IEO in the spring of 2019 and received $83 million from investors by selling its GateToken for $0.4. It is one of the most successful exchange placements in history to date.
At its peak in May 2021, the cryptocurrency price exceeded $11.31. Thus, those who invested in it at the start made a profit of 2900%. At the time of writing, the GateToken costs $6.27.
Polygon
At the time of the IEO, the Polygon project from India was called Matic. Its goal is to become an alternative to Ethereum through faster block confirmation and lower fees.
Polygon is perhaps the most successful IEO project ever. The cryptocurrency could be purchased for $0.00263 during the placement, and at the time of this writing, it is worth $1.58. That is, its value has grown by more than 70,000%.
The Most Successful IDOs
Orion Protocol
Orion’s creators work on an aggregator platform that brings together centralized and decentralized exchanges and liquidity pools.
In the spring of 2020, the developers conducted an extremely successful IDO, having received $3.75 million from investors. At the time, one ORN token cost $0.1, and at its peak in March 2021, the price rose to almost $28. Thus, visionary investors made a profit of 28,000%.
ORN has lost a third of its value at the time of writing and is trading at $7.15 per token. Nevertheless, even with this rate, the cryptocurrency brought investors a profit of 9220%.
Unizen
The creators of Unizen call their project ‘the world’s first exchange ecosystem for digital assets.’ Simply put, it is a hybrid blockchain platform that combines the capabilities of centralized and decentralized exchanges.
The Unizen IDO took place in April 2021, when a ZCX token could be purchased for $0.03. In mid-October, its cost rose to $6.8. That is, the profit from investments in cryptocurrency was 22,600%. At the time of writing, the ZCX rate is $4.1.
Ethernity Chain
The Ethernity Chain platform, built on its own blockchain, allows you to buy and sell NFTs. The project’s IDO took place in March 2021 with a token price (ERN) of $0.275. At the end of March, ERN rose in price to $71.5 — an increase of 26,000%.
True, by the end of May, the cryptocurrency lost most of its value, dropping to $3.4. At the time of writing, the coin has risen in price again to $14.06.
Conclusion
The cryptocurrency boom is always unpredictable, with prices rising and falling at the slightest provocation. Nonetheless, cryptocurrencies and token sales are always here to stay. However, always stay alert and never invest money that you can’t afford to lose!
Have you ever invested in ICOs, IDOs, or IEOs? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!
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