10 Factors for Evaluating Promising ICO and IEO Projects
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As many traditional e-commerces and fortune 500 companies have started to accept crypto payments, many more people are entering into the crypto space. As a result, there is a large volume of transactions on crypto exchanges. However, for many crypto beginners, it is often difficult to assess if a new blockchain project has potential for growth and whether they should join its fundraising opportunities. Indeed, many novice crypto investors are in need of a comprehensive checklist of criteria for assessing projects listed on an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) platform. Motivated by the growing demand for educating new crypto investors, we’ve put together the following, 10 definitive factors for assessing a successful ICO project.
1- Legal Team
The first and foremost factor is to see if a crypto project has an attorney on its core team or advisory board. Alternatively, check to see if a project has any law firm as its partners. Many reputable Exchanges would not list a project that does not have essential legal documents in place. Some of the essential legal documents are as follows:
- Business entity adoption and registration
- Legal opinion on token type (utility vs security)
- KYC/AML
- Simple Agreement For Future Tokens or SAFT for investors
- Legal contracts for team, advisors, service providers, and partners
At RealBig we have attorneys in our core team as well as our advisors. A partnership with a reputable independent law firm to draft our legal opinion is in the works.
2- Security Audits
Nowadays the importance of cybersecurity is apparent to anyone who is familiar with the technology. Of higher importance is the security of blockchain projects that deal with people’s money. Thus, the more comprehensive a project is audited against the latest blockchain security threats, the more people can trust the project for holding and exchanging their crypto.
At RealBig, we have hired two independent blockchain security firms to run a variety of security audits on our smart contracts. See our Review of RealBig Smart Contract Security Audit article for more details.
3- Liquidity and Market Making
Going to a reputable Exchange is one thing and maintaining or increasing the market value of a token is another. After all, investors and public buyers rely on increasing the value of the token price to make a 5–10X profit. As a result, most Exchanges rely on third-party Money Maker or MM service providers to offer the following:
- Maintaining and increasing value of token price
- Reducing volatility in the token price
- Increasing liquidity
At RealBig, we follow the MM best practices by cushioning the market volatility through supplying both RealB and USDC to MM providers.
4- Active Community
For a public blockchain project listed as an ICO, having an active community is a must. Indeed, the support of the community plays a vital role in 3 stages: 1- ICO fundraising, 2- Product Development & testing and 3- post-product launch as end-users.
At RealBig, we have 60k people in our community now. In our marketing plan, we have devised different strategies and operational plans for retaining and increasing our community in said 3 stages. Also, at RealBig, we have offered many initivaits for community engagement like image contest, bounty program, airdrop, weekly Telegram contest and Discord podcasts.
5- Crypto Exchanges
The more reputable the exchange, the higher the value of token price would be. Also, some Exchanges offer marketing services to sell project tokens via Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) service. It creates a good market for tokens and boosts token value once it is listed in Exchanges. The requirements and onboarding process and timing for an IEO is different from main exchange listings.
At RealBig, we are in talks with several top exchanges for both IEO and main listing. While at the same time also offering our tokens via DEX and IDO.
6- Core Team and Advisory Board
It is out of the question that a crypto project makes or breaks with the team. Indeed, the role of the team is vital in the said 3 stages. The more competent and experienced the core team are, the more investors and the public can trust a project. In addition, a seasoned advisory board is vital for the sustainability of a crypto project since regulations and market are rapidly changing.
At RealBig, we’ve gathered together a team of experts known around the world for their blockchain book publications and public speaking engagements. The core RealBig team is based in the USA with around 15–20 years of industry experience. In addition, RealBig Advisory Board members are mostly based in the USA, mostly with 20+ years of experience. Our advisory boards are carefully selected to consult us on said 3 stages of our project.
7- Project Tokenomics and Roadmap
A well-thought-out tokenomics includes all aspects of business operation from marketing to finance. It should also include both short-term and long-term goals for the project. Thorough consideration should also be given to a fair and well-balanced allocation of tokens among the team, public and project itself.
At the same time, a well-planned roadmap should be realistically designed and managed based on best practices in project management by taking into consideration both technical and non-technical aspects of the project.
At RealBig, we have followed all above mentioned best practices to come up with a well-balanced and calculated tokenomics and roadmap to ensure the long-term sustainability of our business.
8- Foundation and DoA
Investors and the public would appreciate as much transparency as possible from the ICO project and its team. That is one of the reasons why the concepts of Decentralized Authority (DAO) or crypto foundations are becoming so popular. Also, some top exchanges may require audits conducted by an independent company to track and record the allocation of raised funds and project progress reports.
At RealBig, we have adopted the highest standards of transparency and accountability by locking 50% of our token in the contract and using an independent foundation to control and audit RealB token operation in the long run.
9- Democratic Fundraising
Unlike traditional fundraising where capital fundraising and terms of the transaction were dictated by big institutional investors, in an ICO project that follows democratic fundraising, small contributors are included in the fundraising. Indeed, democratic fundraising makes it possible for a project to be supported financially by its community. Also, using a decentralized exchange for crypto fundraising often allows small investors to contribute via Initial Dex Offering or IDO.
At RealBig, we have included all small fundraisers into our fundraising through our presale whitelist. For more info, visit the below link:
https://realbig.medium.com/realbig-nft-presale-whitelisting-announcement-fc56edf4bb3f
10- International community
Unlike traditional businesses that mostly cater toward local communities (same language, culture and region), most crypto projects aim at a global market where cultural and linguistic diversity are taken into consideration. Indeed, the long term success and sustainability of a crypto project depends to large extent on its acceptance by the global community. As such, it is advisable for a crypto project to translate its White Paper and Pitch Deck in multiple languages. Also, creating regional Telegram groups as well as regional ambassador programs would be great means for sustaining and expanding global followers.
At RealBig, we have currently translated our doc into 7 languages- Arabic, Russian, Indonesian, Portugues, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese. We will also have specific programs like regional TG groups and Discord Ambassador programs to interact with different communities across the globe.
Summary
In this article, we covered 10 essential checklists for assessing a new crypto project that is planning to raise funds via ICO or Exchanges. Other factors worth considering are the novelty of the idea, a three year revenue projection with cash flows, project revenue models, business model, and blockchain platform (and gas fees). Finally, most investors and Exchanges want to see a calculated marketing plan which includes a list of Key Opinion Leaders and Influencers that are willing to support the project during its fundraising. Along similar lines, participating in an Ask Me Anything session with the core project team would be a great place to discuss your specific questions.
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