What is ICO Spotters?

ICO Spotters is a connection portal that gives companies the opportunity to showcase their offerings, and cryptocurrency investors a way to find the best, most exciting Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). ICOs may be called ICO Coin, and there are plenty of websites online that list various ICO offerings. It is important, however, to recognize that most of those websites are not updated on a regular basis. ICO Spotters actively collects upcoming and currently active ICOs, ensuring that investors have the latest, and best information and that they won’t lose out on the chance to get in on the hottest and best ICOs.

The ICO listings calendar on the website is organized and kept up-to-date. That is why we think investors have the best opportunity to find the ICOs they are looking for, that work best for them on the ICO Spotters website. Every day, the ICO Spotters site is updated several times, so it is always showcasing the best NEW initial coin offerings now, and in the future.

We have a team of analysts that constantly search the internet for the latest ICO. That means investors don’t have to find that needle in a sea of needles. We believe our ICO listings is the highest quality selection to be found.

On our calendar investors can see featured ICO listings from selected ICOs offering high-quality investments. Featured listings are not necessarily better than the hundreds of other ICO coin offerings on the list, but they can help investors find those sought-after trades they are looking for.

So, when you are looking for that “best” ICO investment, ICO Spotters should be the first place to begin.

What is an ICO?

ICOs are a brand-new frontier in the investment world, and that can be a little confusing at first. Initial Coin Offerings, usually referred to as ICOs, are securities from early stage blockchains. These virtual tokens are pre-sold as access to a platform, exchange for dividends or tokens (coins) in the early phase of a blockchain service. It allows companies to raise funds for development and offer up the project to early adopters. An ICO is simply the technological resource of crowdfunding for blockchain startups.

As with most investments, blockchain projects typically have similar attributes: a method of token accounting, a specific supply of coin available and a platform that services spent or owned tokens.

ICOs are an excellent way for people to get in on the ground floor of an interesting project. Initial Coin Offerings also give business owners a way to obtain discounted access to a platform that will help them in their own company. Investors also hope to get in on the purchase of coins that increase in value during the development of the service.

At the moment, this new type of funding ventures (startups) is unregulated. With an ICO offering, an investor will exchange legal tender for a type of cryptocurrency offered, usually in the form of Bitcoin or Ethereum, although there are several other types as well. To find out more about how to invest in ICOs, check out our blog post – What is an ICO?

How to find the best new ICOs?

As with any form of investment, new Initial Coin Offerings are not without risk. Of course, there is also the promise of great reward. New ICOs have shown that they can be very beneficial deals for those that get in on the action early. It is worth noting that even when the investments from some select new ICO companies have increased by as much as a million percent, at the same time, 90% of new ICO launches do not end up making their milestones or garnering a profit for their early investors. Since digital tokens and ICO investing is such a new arena, it can be tough to sort out the reliable early stage blockchain companies and teams.

That’s why ICO Spotters is such a valuable tool for new ICO contributors. It can help them find the best new ICO offers. ICO Spotters does this by constantly weeding through the bombardment of proposals and selecting the best to showcase on the website.

How to invest in upcoming ICOs?

Of all of the upcoming ICO platforms including NEO, Qtum, Lisk, Komodo, ICX and Zilliqa, Ethereum that uses the ERC20 protocol is the most common. Along with the coin types listed, there are several lesser used ones as well, and each company offering an upcoming ICO can choose the platform that works best for them to use as a transaction network. Each upcoming Initial Coin Offering will need its own dashboard that allows investors looking at them to use for submitting and obtaining information. In most cases, a contributor must sign up for the whitelist of the new ICO they are interested in to reserve their place in the generated pool of tokens.

When a customer signs up, they will also need to fill out a Know Your Customer (also known as a KYC) document. That has several functions. First, it verifies the individual’s identity which is accomplished by uploading a scan or photo of an official form of ID. Each contributor must also have a wallet suitable for the network that has the tokens that ICO accepts (which is listed on each Initial Coin Offering’s information). Then the verified participant can use that wallet to send the required tokens to the designated wallet listed by the ICO.

Once the technical team for the desired upcoming ICO confirms the contribution comes from a verified KYC related wallet address, the contributor is rewarded with the offered number of project tokens. This transfer process may take a few weeks on account of the programming required.

How to review and analyze an ICO?

The best way for an investor to reduce the risk involved in any type of financial endeavor is to do their homework. New ICOs are no different than most common venture capital investment. The contributor should evaluate all of the traditional aspects of what a project is planning, how it hopes to accomplish it and the timing involved. As any informed risk investor would, they should study the economics of the token model viability with each project. Token prices are commonly defined by the number of tokens offered and the demand for those tokens, but those aren’t the only factors. There is also the team itself, experience and marketing skills as well as their efforts to consider.

Something all investors should heavily consider when checking out a prospective ICO listing is the commitment and expertise of the team involved. There should be absolute transparency in the information pages regarding who the team is and what their skills are. Of course, there have been examples of successful Bitcoin projects developed in anonymity, but that creates a larger risk scenario for the contributor. There’s a higher risk of an exit scam in an anonymous team, and it is a problem that has arisen in recent listings. When considering a new ICO, check to see that the team has relevant work or study history, solid networks, good endorsements from clients or colleagues and their intros should relate a solid commitment to the new ICO project. There should also be a reasonable amount of diversity in the team so that all areas are covered for implementation.

Everything about the funding of a project should be easy to recognize in an ICO. The purpose for the project should be clear and obviously solve at least a particular existing problem for every day people. The project description should give a clear example of how that particular endeavor is going to solve the problem, and what the demand is for a needed solution. Upcoming ICO that do not have a lot of clear and necessary advantages may face additional problems getting off the ground, therefore present a higher risk to the contributors. An additional consideration is that the token-based model of backing should make sense for the project. If it doesn’t, that company should be considering more common forms of investment.

Once a new ICO has passed all the above considerations, it can be a serious contender, but it isn’t through the hardest part of the evaluation. Token-based economics need to make sense, the same as any other field of investment. When an investor considers an ICO they need to find out what the total number of tokens will be in the project’s offering, how much each token will provide as a share, and what the total valuation of the project is. Those are the numbers that will help a contributor know what the potential turnover will be, and if it is high enough to surpass the initial investment. This is the area where many ICOs flounder. It is compelling for startups to offer too many tokens in the initial supply, making the resulting valuation to low. Look for incentives for the team members to remain committed in the form of gradual token increase for developing members.

In the end, token model businesses need to have real benefits for both end users and the early contributors to make it work. The team must have the experience and clear vision from design to implementation as well as marketing to create the service. There needs to be a well-thought-out road map to bring the project to fruition quickly, and it should be realistic.

When a project meets all of the viability requirements, the final consideration is its current visibility. The development team should be engaged in a strong effort to stay in contact with the community and get their service seen by the public on industry sites, on blogs and through forums. It’s easy enough to validate the efforts in this area. Visit the project’s social sites, check out the sizes of the communities engaged, and see how often the sites are updated. Make sure to actually look through the articles and reviews to be sure they are valuable and see that they have engagement and comments.

Using all of these bits and pieces of information helps a savvy contributor make strong calculations regarding each ICO Coin offering. It is always best to know as much as is possible when investing valuable assets into a new project.

Investor Research — The ICO Whitepaper

If you’re looking to invest in a new ICO venture, a the best place to start is usually the project’s white paper. With in-depth analysis and insight into what the venture hopes to provide, the typical ICO white paper is your go-to resource for project information and financial details—it’s the who, what and why of every new project. White papers are designed to persuade potential backers to support the project and often use graphs, tables, and images to illustrate concepts. A complete ICO white paper does the following:

• Provides an abstract or overview of the project.
• Introduces the problem and presents a solution.
• Details a complete business model.
• Explains how tokens will be distributed.
• Lists expenditures and financial needs.
• Presents projected timeline.
• Introduces team members.

The different ICO stages

1. Seed funding round

This is the initial early stage of any ICO offering. It is the time a team prepares its white paper, website and develops a strategy. In the seed phase, the team hasn’t gotten a real foothold on public exposure, and most of the funding will be through a team’s network of contacts at this point. This is, however, where the very best potential for benefits come in the project. It is also the highest risk area and many seed round offerings never make it to the final ICO stage.

2. Private Sales

In the second stage, private sales, the basic information is set and ready for investor consumption. The project isn’t extremely visible at this point, so it is harder for contributors to find projects in this stage still. Private sale offerings also offer bigger bonuses and also carry larger risks than a project.

3. Pre ICOs or pre sales

The pre-ICO sales stage is where there is the best benefit with the most reasonable amount of risk. In this stage the ICO has the funding it needs for a full-scale rollout and ICO marketing campaign. The pre-ICO is the last time industry experts have to get in on an offering at a discounted token cost. Projects that are heavily endorsed will often get sold out at this stage.

4. Upcoming ICOs & whitelists

The upcoming ICO stage is a transitional period where there may still be a short window of time to grab up an offering at a bit of a discount. This is the time when the pre-sales have stopped, but the marketing campaign has not fully rolled out. This period is often called whitelisting, and it can be done to develop a newsletter list that will provide information and generate excitement over the progress of a crowdsale.

5. Active (ongoing ICOs)

This is the stage most contributors find an actual ICO. It is the main crowdfunding site for token sales. At this point, there is still room for benefits, but since the marketing has reached its highest peak, and confidence is at its highest because the project has made it to this point, and raised early funding, there isn’t a lot of discount on the token price due to the much lower risk levels.

6. After markets

‍Once the ICO event is over and the token generation is complete, all contributors receive their piece of the token allotment. At this time, tokens are transferred through the project team and allocated in accordance with the contributions, KYC and wallet acceptance. Now the ICO project begins its final setup, using the favorable financial environment including negotiations with various exchanges that host token platforms for cryptocurrency, and peer-2-peer trading opportunities. When starting this stage, typically an ICO needs to begin from a smaller exchange and work up the momentum in trading volume to be accepted by the more popular exchanges. This is where having the right exchange partner and a strong marketing network can benefit an ICO. It helps the listing get immediate traction and trade volumes, increasing its value and making early investors happy.

Now is the time an ICO project needs to focus on delivery and meeting its development deadlines that were promised early on in the roadmap. It should be working steadily on improvements to the product, getting users and making the best use of token value increase to bring in new users and contributors. When an ICO project has made it through all of these steps, it is a real winner and becomes one of the success stories that help contributors identify what makes a working ICO a winner.

What is an ICO List?

Our current ICO list is where you will find all of the current investments that are ongoing. It is important to hurry when finding these because the offer is usually on a limited time basis for these ICOs. Each listing will show the ending date for the listed ICO.

What is a pre ICO?

The Pre ICO token sale is new to the cryptocurrency market. It is a phenomenon that allows investors the chance to purchase tokens early, before an official crowdsale starts. This type of sale usually produces a smaller fund and therefore offers tokens at a lower value and the possibility of bigger bonus. The reason for a pre-ICO token offering is to lower the price of the main ICO.

Pre-ICOs use a method of contracts different from the main ICO offering, to avoid the mixing of funds from each, and allow for the correct accounting and auditing. There is a chance to find several projects running these Pre-ICOs to generate funds and get the financing for the expenses of pursuing the main ICO, promotions ad recruitment as well as meet-up costs to attract investors.

Companies launching pre-ICO token offers need to be transparent about the reasons for the sales and how many tokens will be issued. The pre-ICO is a fantastic opportunity for quick turnaround for investors but may have an effect on the appeal and credibility of a project offering tokens at a discount.

Pre-ICO token sales offer contributors a chance to get tokens before the full-scale crowd sale starts. It isn’t unusual to find bonuses of 40% or better with pre-ICO sales.

What is the Upcoming ICO list?

The upcoming ICO listing is the place to find all of the high-quality, upcoming coins launching soon. This status means the ICO tokens are not available yet, so you can’t invest on them at the moment, but they are garnering the hype and visibility for their pre-sale and main token sale.

It’s a great time to see if any of the upcoming cryptocurrency offers looks like something you’d be interested in, and to join their communications groups and whitelist to ensure a spot in their ICO. Joining the whitelist will get you notified of the token sales, often before the general public announcement is made.

How does ICO Spotters measure up against the competition?

Of course, you might say we’re biased, but we think that we are the best ICO listing source for crypto investors.

We differ from other listing sites such as Coin Schedule, ICO Hot List, ICO Bench, ICO Watch List, ICO Alert and ICO Drops because of the ardent controls and curation ICO Spotters employs. We truly believe we make it easier for investors to find the very best ICOs.

What is cryptocurrency and why is it important?

Cryptocurrency is a new and evolving financial asset still looking for its historical position. The term itself can mean various things to different people. Developers, journalists, investors, legislators, economists and even the general public can all have a slightly different prospect as to what exactly cryptocurrency is. The most common aspect for these new digital assets is that they are built on distributed ledgers and traded through open platforms and exchanges. Finally, a generally agreed upon aspect that makes a cryptocurrency an asset is that it must be valued, traded and accepted as payment for services or goods such as another digital asset.

Because there isn’t legislation or definitions that are commonly accepted across the board with all groups, international markets and the courts for digital assets the classification of cryptocurrencies are not clear. It is expected that those definitions will be clarified in the near future as the developer communities as well as the regulators begin creating official guides that classify the assets. At this time, the field is ongoing and there is a lot of philosophical debate, a lot of misunderstanding and some malicious and purposeful misinformation surrounding cryptocurrencies.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is, at its basis, the decentralized system of accounting cryptocurrency assets working through a network of various computers in many locations. This network all works together confirming the transactions that take place in the system and cross reference all of the information regarding the sales to each other. This keeps the process reliable and transparent, and also makes it impenetrable to hacking. Providing all of the information to the network for calculation is known as “mining.” The reward for the mining is tokens provided by the support of the network of operators.

The protocols of cryptographic hash blocks the blockchain employs contain all of the pertinent information in the system of the prior transactions.

Search Our Upcoming ICO List by Industry or Blockchain

When you’re ready to find and analyze trusted ICO coins, use our navigation or search bar to search for new ICOs by industry or blockchain. Or, just click the appropriate tabs below to learn more about past, ongoing or upcoming ICOs.

Whether you’re into fantasy sports or high finance, with seven categories to choose from—Assets, Business, Technology, Finance, Entertainment, Games and Health, it’s easy to narrow your search to find the perfect ICO. You can also search for current or upcoming ICOs by blockchain: Ethereum, NEO, Cardano, Ethereum Classic, Stellar, Waves, Qtum or NEM.

The key to finding the right ICO at the right time is a curated calendar of token sales. Use our Add ICO to My Calendar feature on each ICO profile page to help you keep track of when ICOs are planned to open or close.

Ready to explore? Take a minute to familiarize yourself with the ICO market. Learn how it works and how you can benefit from the latest surge in digital currency.

How ICO Spotters Can Help

There are currently over 1,000 coins available on different exchanges, and even more in the process of being listed. While anyone can invest in an ICO project, smart investing and huge returns is the result of having access to the right information.

We make it a top priority to ensure our platform includes reliable, trusted cryptocurrency tokens and ICO projects. With regular updates to provide information that may assist decision-making, we make it easy to find the best ICOs with our current and upcoming ICO lists before anyone else. And it doesn't stop there! Try creating an account which will enable you to favorite your top ICO picks of 2018. Add ICO's to your calendar with the button located on every listing so that you won't forget about your favorite ICO.

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