Blog: The differences between IGO, ICO, IEO, and IDO

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In an IDO, or initial DEX offering, a crypto project sells tokens to investors through a decentralized crypto exchange. In an ICO, a new project offers its crypto token to investors through mechanisms like a presale. Instead of going through an exchange, ido vs ico the project sells its token directly to the public. An IDO is the process by which a new crypto project releases its token to the public through a decentralized crypto exchange.

See our list of the best crypto launchpads for ICOs, IEOs, and IDOs

difference between ido and ico

For crypto founders, IEOs solve regulatory and visibility challenges by letting exchanges handle compliance, KYC verification and marketing to large readymade investor bases. Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs) have rapidly established themselves as a groundbreaking method for conducting token offerings within the crypto space. IDOs typically launch with a https://www.xcritical.com/ very low market cap, often just a few million dollars or less, making them particularly attractive to investors looking for high-return opportunities. This low initial valuation can lead to significant returns on investment as the token gains traction and increases in value. The mechanics of this distribution are governed by smart contracts, which are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement directly written into code.

What are the benefits and risks of the IDO model?

  • As a result, the general public became aware of ICOs and, in due course, IDOs as crypto fundraising methods.
  • He’s only 19 years old, but he’s a brilliant, promising guy who has revolutionary ideas brewing up in his mind.
  • IEO may no longer be a barrier to a crypto project going public in the future, whilst projects using ICO and IDO procedures are not subject to SEC scrutiny.
  • Many projects decided to raise funds for product development through the initial decentralized offering.
  • The IDO sold 75 million $CPOOL tokens and raised $3 million for the project.
  • A company seeking to raise money to create a new coin, app, or service can launch an ICO as a way to raise funds.

Regardless of which one of these four terms we are talking about, the intentions are always the same – to raise funds for future projects. Blockchain and crypto startups can problem their tokens in exchange for fiat currency or different cryptocurrencies. New crypto tasks require a great amount of capital to actualize their concepts. Since the crypto market just isn’t regulated, borrowing funds from banks and institutional traders is not an possibility.

Disadvantages of Initial Coin Offerings

difference between ido and ico

However, as long as the decentralized finance market develops, IDO will also be used by crypto projects. If an ICO is buying from an artist, and the exchange is buying from an auction house, a decentralized exchange is buying from a flea market. It’s easy, fast, and fun, but it puts a lot of the responsibility and pressure back on the buyers—just like with ICOs. In fact, decentralized exchanges are older than the more popular centralized exchanges of today.

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As you can tell from the event’s name, the IEO was held on the crypto exchange Huobi. ICOs are a rather dangerous way of trusting one’s money to a crypto startup. But nothing comes close to the ICO held by EOS, the blockchain protocol, which raised over $4 billion in 2018.

Learn how to build your crypto trading bot with our step-to-step guide, and learn the strategies and tips you might need. There are still other ways for cryptocurrencies to get into people’s hands. But, most of it has to do with different kinds of cryptocurrencies—because they’re not all made equal. Just like a project can have an ICO and a subsequent IEO, a listing on a DEX may already have an IEO and ICO. Crypto assets are unregulated, decentralised and highly volatile assets which entail substantial risks and you may lose all invested capital. The next step is to build your cryptocoin, which will serve as the foundation for the entire Offering portion of the Initial Exchange Offering.

Although ICOs and IEOs gave rise to some of the most popular crypto projects, they come with their own set of problems. In the case of ICOs, the lack of screening posed a threat to the investors and made investors vulnerable to huge losses. With regards to IEOs, centralization was a major concern as CEXs are susceptible to thefts and cyber scams. The major advantage of IDO over IEO is that there is no need to pay exchange fee, which is getting higher and higher, and it doesn’t require authorization from anyone. Instead of relying on centralized exchange to bring in volume and liquidity, community members are the ones who vet projects and tokens. BitDegree aims to uncover, simplify & share Web3 & cryptocurrency education with the masses.

This democratized approach to fundraising empowers more projects to launch and grow without the need for institutional backing. A crucial element in the IDO process is the integration of liquidity pools. These pools are essential for providing liquidity post-sale, ensuring that investors can buy and sell the new tokens easily.

On the other hand, the advantage of IDO is that the token is immediately listed on a decentralized platform where the offering occurred. Some traders purchase the coins for his or her utility, whereas others do it for speculation. For instance, you may use the coin for farming, staking in a governance mechanism, or paying for transaction fees. Instead of an offering being hosted by a crypto project, an initial change offering leverages the prevailing infrastructure of a crypto trade to launch a brand new coin or token and raise cash.

difference between ido and ico

The ICO model has stood the test of time for well designed crypto networks. The community-driven nature of IDOs generates considerable buzz, enhancing the project’s market presence and attracting new members and potential collaborators. The community often includes vocal supporters who help in spreading the word, attracting more attention and investment, and providing valuable feedback and ideas for the project’s development. The information provided on this website does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other advice, and you should not treat any of the website’s content as such. The Universal Market Access (UMA) protocol, which enables DeFi developers to create synthetic assets on the Ethereum blockchain, also conducted a successful IDO. Investors will need a crypto wallet in order to connect to a DEX and join an IDO.

You, as the investor, must carefully examine the team members’ backgrounds to see whether they have the expertise, technology, or blockchain proficiency to back up their promises in the whitepaper. It is unfortunate that not every buyer knows how to distinguish between an honest and a fraudulent ICO. The fact that ICOs rely on blockchain technology to preserve a record of their numerous transactions makes them more appealing than IPOs and other classic assets. Explore DePIN’s role in Web3 as it reshapes physical and digital connectivity, pushing the boundaries of decentralized infrastructure.

In August 2020, Ocean Protocol, a data exchange protocol, raised $1.8 million on Balancer. Or, in October 2020, Polkastarter, a decentralized protocol, raised $775k on Uniswap. In certain cases, not everyone was able to participate in the token acquisition. Exchanges began limiting who could participate in IEOs by, for example, introducing various requirements.

Investors could be persuaded to participate in an ICO by a project by making them a promise of large returns. The majority of schemes, however, become bogus, and the developers elude seize with investor money. When it comes to finding methods to fund new projects, the crypto business is highly innovative. Initial Coin Offerings, or ICOs for short, used to be the industry standard for raising money. A startup company seeking investment needs merely to deliver a white paper outlining the planned system’s operation.

With initial estimates of $535,000, the project is now capitalized at over $1.28 billion. The distinction between ICOs and IEOs is that, unlike ICO investment models, IEOs are launched on the cryptocurrency exchange’s platform. The IEO is hosted on the websites of crypto exchanges for investors to engage in. ICO, because it happens on the website of issuing company, is often more prone to frauds and scams. It is also not considered as a good option, if one is interested into long-term investing.

However, the potential for staggering returns has seen some people fall for projects that never really took off or projects that were abandoned. Therefore, before investing in an ICO, take the time to run a thorough background check on a project to assess its vitality. The fact that ICOs are not regulated makes them very risky for investors. A project will lure investors into participating in an ICO by promising them high returns.

For most IDOs, investors simply need to connect a wallet to the DEX holding the IDO in order to participate. Some IDOs have whitelisting requirements, but these are usually easy to fulfill (e.g. following a project’s Twitter account). Another benefit of an IDO is that this process makes it relatively straightforward to invest in new crypto tokens.

Moreover, ICOs are an immensely popular method to increase money in the world of crypto (Top 8 Ways To Identify A Genuine ICO Scam and Fake Cryptocurrency). A project appeals to the general public for fundraising through a platform or Launchpad that offers IDO services such as Uniswap, Binance Dex and Polkastarter. Ordinarily, the word token means a thing serving as a tangible or visible representation of a fact, quality, feeling etc. However, the word token means a virtual currency token or a denomination in cryptocurrency.

Industry experts believe that IEOs on centralized exchanges and IDOs on decentralized exchanges are increasingly replacing ICOs as the preferred funding mode for blockchain-enabled projects. It is actually very similar to the Initial Public Offering (IPO) that a new company uses to raise funds when it first goes public. IDO is a third-party platform that controls the exchange, and the token sale itself is somewhat decentralized. In some ways, IDO’s fundraising method is similar to IEOs, ICOs, and STOs, despite being based on DeFi, which has created a way to develop innovative, reliable, and easily scalable open finance. The latest in digital crowdfunding development, IDO is being launched by a decentralized exchange (DEX), which conducts due diligence before including a project in its foothold.