Quality Assessment of ICO during 2014-2017

In 2017 the amount of money raised through ICOs (initial coin offerings) has made it the fastest growing capital market in the world. The massive fund raise of more than $7 billion has formulated completely new capital ecosystem, but the unregulated nature of ICO caused a huge number of frauds and scams discouraging potential investors from financing new ventures. The crucial component of this market is trust, as investment decision has to be made based only on a white paper and incomplete sample code. The research identifies which factors impact the most the quality of ICOs and how the value of tokens offered for sale can be assessed. A combination of comparative, quantitative and qualitative analysis were employed for identifying signals that can be used for determining level of credibility and the probability of potential success of launched campaigns, economic modeling and econometrics are the base for selecting the most reliable indicators of ICO quality. Key words: Initial Coin Offering, ICO, Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, Scam, Trust, Crypto-markets, Smart Contract, White Paper