ICO Investors

ICO Investors

Ruediger Fahlenbrach, Marc Frattaroli

Series number :

Serial Number: 
618/2019

Date posted :

August 05 2019

Last revised :

August 05 2019
SSRN Share

Keywords

  • Initial Coin Offering • 
  • Fintech • 
  • Individual Investors

We conduct a detailed analysis of investors in successful initial coin offerings (ICOs). The average ICO has 4,700 contributors. The median participant contributes small amounts and many investors sell their tokens before the underlying product is developed. Large presale investors obtain tokens at a discount and flip part of their allocation shortly after the ICO.

ICO contributors lack the protections traditionally afforded to investors in early stage financing. Nevertheless, returns nine months after the ICO are positive on average, driven mostly by an increase in the value of the Ethereum cryptocurrency.

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Authors

Real name:
Marc Frattaroli