Multiple reports this year have concluded that ICOs raised more money in 2018 than all of the ICOs launched during the 2017 bull market. A recent study from Autonomous Research states “Through June of 2018, we saw $12 billion of funding flow through into token offerings.”

The research firm goes on to suggest its estimates are likely conservative, explaining “Our numbers track only those ICOs with $1 million or more raised, so the numbers could be slightly higher…”

Earlier in the Year

Autonomous Research is not alone seeing the growing ICO trend. A few weeks earlier, a June 6th, 2018 article from Investopedia said, “According to the latest statistics from research firm Token Data, ICOs have raised $10 billion since the start of this year.” The author, Rakesh Sharma explains that is around 60% more money raised as of the middle of 2018 than all of the prior year.

This is not new information. An April 19th, 2018 article on Coindesk used more dramatic language when evaluating just the first quarter of 2018 and said, “At $6.3 billion, ICO funding in the first quarter is now 118 percent of the total for 2017, a figure that might go a long way toward undermining a common perception that the controversial fundraising mETHod will soon be extinct.” Far from extinct, ICO funding continues to grow, perhaps by $6 billion a quarter, and is still capturing the attention of Wall Street media outlets such as Fortune that pay close attention to year-over-year growth. For example, this Fortune author explains that 2018 ICO funding is breaking records: “That dollar amount this year dwarfs what ICOs raised a year earlier.”

ICOs are Thriving

The rumors are wrong, the data is clear. ICOs are not dead. Rather, just like blockchain, ICOs such as Telegram, MilitaryToken, NextPakk, and Privum continue to break records and reach new heights. I fully expect ICOs to continue to expand in total amount raised, and evolve, just as blockchain continues to do too.

Continue the discussion on Twitter @Bitcoin (available on Coinbase)Census