ICO

ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is a fundraising method used by cryptocurrency projects, where new tokens are sold to investors before the project is fully launched. It works similarly to an IPO (Initial Public Offering) on the stock market, but instead of shares, participants receive tokens that can serve various functions—ranging from payment within the project’s ecosystem to a form of profit-sharing.

ICOs were especially popular in 2017–2018, when many blockchain startups raised billions of dollars without having to comply with traditional financial regulations. However, the lack of oversight led to numerous scams and failed projects, prompting many governments to introduce stricter regulations. Today, ICOs have been partially replaced by IEOs (Initial Exchange Offerings) and IDOs (Initial DEX Offerings), which provide greater security for investors.