With so many cryptocurrency ICOs behind us, now is the time for teams to show some proof. More specifically, progress reports are what the world needs right now. All of these ICOs have raised millions of dollars, often without as much as a working prototype. A credible progress report can restore confidence in an ICO project. Right now, most of them are still pure hype, vaporware, and speculation.
To put this concept into perspective, a lot of projects fail at communication. More specifically, they communicate during the ICO and then suddenly drop off the radar. While it is understandable work needs to be done behind the scenes, keeping the community information is common courtesy. No one is asking for daily updates either, but a progress report would be nice now and then. Especially for the project raising US$50m and more.
A Progress Report is a Must for Ever ICO Projects
This highlights one of the big problems with cryptocurrency ICOs. These products are given funds upfront without them showing any sign of being able to deliver on a promise. Most ICOs don’t even have working code or a demo product. Yet for some reason, people are more than willing to give them million in Ethereum in the hopes of striking it rich. Credible progress needs to be visible every single week and month. Right now, the majority of huge ICOs is not showing any real progress in weeks.
Major companies holding an IPO are held responsible by the shareholders. Since cryptocurrency ICOs use a similar structure, it is up to investors to keep pushing for progress reports. Then again, token holders have no real “rights” compared to shareholders. This creates a very dangerous environment in which ICO projects are not obligated to make good on their promises. No one should be surprised if a lot of these ICOs eventually disappear with one’s money.
Rest assured we will suddenly see a spree of new information from a lot of these projects. Once people start complaining, things will change for a while. Once the masses are satisfied again, teams will go back into the non-communication mode for a few months. It is difficult to keep pressure on such companies, as there is no reason for them to even show common courtesy. It will be interesting to see how these ICOs affect the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a whole.
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