New ICOs are launched daily in different areas of the market. They are covered by the media, discussed on Reddit and advertised in various channels in order to create hype and raise more funds. However, there are ICOs that ignore such approach and launch their token sale with considerably less focus on gaining attention. Let’s look more closer at some of the varying approaches to launching an ICO.
Please Note: This is a Press Release
Public ICOs
When a project doesn’t have its own audience of interested investors, it usually holds a public ICO. Founders have to look for investors who come from inside and outside the crypto world. Public ICO’s tend to take the maximum publicity approach that includes advertisements, blogs, social network spamming and so on. This segment of the ICO world (which can generate incredible amounts of funds), unfortunately, tends to generate most of the scam-projects.
Private ICOs
On the other side there are less popular ICOs of different privacy levels:
ICO Based On Preliminary Registration
This first option requires preliminary registration of participants. The registration process varies from simply leaving your email on the site to passing a complex identification procedure. This approach helps to exclude inexperienced participants and helps to alleviate token holder’s uncertainty and anxiety after token listing.
The steps for participating in partially closed ICOs are simple:
- Sign up for token sale on the official website.
- Subscribe to the official social media accounts (Facebook, Telegram etc.) and the mailing list.
- Follow the news and participate in the token sale as soon as it is announced.
Completely Private And Closed ICO
A completely private ICO is a token sale for a close circle. In this segment of the market, promising projects select partners themselves. Investors are usually required to have more official registration including “accredited investor” status in order to participate in the token sale. The minimum investment in this segment varies from $10.000 to $1 million.
The most striking example of the closed private sale is Telegram’s TON network. Eighty-one professional investors participated in the sale, contributing $850 million during the pre-sale stage.
In the case of completely closed private ICOs, you need to be a professional investor with major finances behind you. However, there is always the possibility of reaching out to the project administration directly in order to get permission to invest a large amount without official status.
Why Are Private and Semi-Private ICOs A Better Investment?
Private sales tend to be held by ICOs that don’t require additional advertising. They are mainly used by established players to raise money for further business development. By attracting a limited number of confident investors, projects in this segment allow their teams to focus on project development realistically.
Large investors – unlike newcomers to the cryptomarket – don’t participate in doubtful and unreliable ICOs. At the same time, promising projects don’t need public sales as they are already getting the required funding.
Pay attention to private ICO and token sales based on preliminary registration, not projects with the public sale model with no restrictions. Token sales based on preliminary registration tend to close very fast. Several ICOs raised millions of dollars within hours in 2017: Bancor, Status, TenX, and Adtoken as examples. A large portion of the funds were obviously provided by large investors who purchased tokens wholesale.
Which Category Does Whalesburg Fit In?
Whalesburg at this stage can be considered a semi-private ICO. The Whalesburg project’s founders attracted during the private sale stage six times more investors than the actual token supply. Raised funds in the amount of 2000 ETH reached more than the soft cap. At this stage many projects choose to close sales. Having raised so much already, Whalesburg had two options for further development:
- Close the token sale at the private sale stage and use raised funds for project development.
- Continue the token sale based on preliminary registration.
Whalesburg’s project founders selected the second option in order to maximize token distribution among the project’s primary audience which includes mining farms and mining pool owners. Doing so allows Whalesburg to reach its long-term objectives for the project development.
People interested in participating in Whalesburg ICO at this stage can sign up for the waitlist on the official website and wait for the invitation by email.
