The Autorité des marchés financiers, France’s financial regulator, has released a report on initial coin offerings. The study reveals that while ICO financing has continued to grow in terms of money raised, it remains “marginal” in proportion to the rest of the market.
Facts and Figures
It says that since 2014, 19.4 billion euros has been raised by selling crypto-tokens. Of this figure, €5.6 billion was taken in 2017, and €13.4 billion in the first three quarters of 2018.
The figure in 2017 is equal to only 1.6 percent of the equity finance market.
French startups have raised only €89 million raised, from 15 ICOs. This is equal to around 0.4 percent of the world total.
The AMF identified a few key features of the French cryptocurrency market:
– that most upcoming ICO projects have already raised money through traditional means;
– that these startups hold ICO fundraising drives “in order to develop a community of committed investors or to preserve the integrity of their capital”; and
– that only 6 percent of Gallic tokens present characteristics of financial instruments.
The regulator says that the French government is currently discussing a draft law which would offer a visa for ICO projects, ” with the aim of offering better protection for investors while allowing the development of innovative projects in France.”
A Much-Researched Area
The conclusion that ICOs are marginal may seem surprising given the share of headlines that these projects have been grabbing over the last couple of years, but similar conclusions have been reached by others. For example, an American research firm found in July that disputes regarding blockchain-based projects made up of securities lawsuits in the US.
There have been quite a few studies of ICOs made this year, in response to the fact that people have been giving them billions of dollars. Many of them reveal interesting facts. Some examples:
More recently, the market has been conquered by, as investment funds backed by big money have been set up specifically to invest in these projects.
List of ICO funds
— Charles Voltron (@CharlesVoltron)
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