Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) Risks, Regulation, and Accountability
The emergence of the cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle has brought the phenomenon of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) into the spotlight, since they provide rapid access to capital for new ventures, but suffer from drawbacks relating to regulation and accountability. In that regard, this chapter provides a review of the recent literature on ICOs before proceeding with a discussion of the regulatory and other risks that ICOs pose for market participants, thereby encouraging a broader discussion about where such a novel capital raising mechanism may lie in the investment universe, and how the weaknesses of ICOs may be addressed so as to better leverage its strengths towards value creation and innovation.