Week in Tokens: 13 June - 21 June 2017

LAST WEEK'S SUCCESSFUL TOKEN SALES:

Status (SNT) raised over $100 million in less than 24, according to early estimates. We reviewed the Ethereum-based messaging app and DApp browser earlier this week and are pleased to report that everything went according to our prediction. A blog post from the Status team with a full summary of the token sale results is pending. In the meantime, tempers are running high. The token sale ran into an outburst of panic in its first few hours due problems with the Ethereum network, an outage of MyEtherWallet and Ethercan, as well as a number of exchanges suspending withdrawals for the duration of the sale. This isn't the first time that a big-name ICO ran into technical problems caused by the community's FOMO. More so, this seems to be becoming a trend, so questions are being asked about how scalable the ETH network really is.
Tokenguide team: It wasn't a best expirience from an investor prospective but we have invested, though, we also will be waiting for Kik to be released at the end of summer to see what the main competitor brings to the table. Read Tokenguide review on Status Token Sale.

SONM (SNM) raised $42 million from 8774 participants in a steady crowdsale that stretched over four days. SONM raised $30 million in the first 24 hours and jogged slowly towards its cap for the next three days. In our experience, this is usually the case with successful ICOs: they raise 80% of their cap within the first 24 hours. SONM created a bit of buzz by accepting many cryptocurrencies apart from ETH/BTC and through running a bounty campaign (always effective) In case you're wondering SONM stands for "Supercomputer Organized by Network Mining" and it's a Russian project which intends to make supercomputer-level powers available to anyone through decentralization yet. The project is still at an embryo stage with no MVP available. The token, however, is apparently already listed on HitBTC (a Chinese crypto exchange) and EtherDelta.
Tokenguide team: we decided not to invest because of no MVP and lack of significant advisors on board.

Aeternity (AE) completed phase II of its token sale early last week, raising a total of about $24 million. A quick recap: this Liechtenstein-based company already conducted a token sale back in April 2017, raising around $5.1 million. Aeternity plans to resolve the issue of smart contract scalability and their interaction with existing entities in the real world. The plan is to launch in Q1 2018. Lots of happy buyers here and people are already demanding the product, since the AE tokens have a lot of utility value.
Tokenguide team: we have not participated neither in 1st stage nor in second.

Minexcoin (MNC) raised a modest 287 BTC from 1981 contributors in a slow-crawling crowdsale. The funds came primarily from the project's pre-existing community members and those who participated in the bounty campaign. Minexcoin aims to complete with crypto heavyweights such as ETH, BTC, etc. by delivering a "faster, safer and simpler" alternative. We'll see how adoption goes.
Tokenguide team: we have not participated in this token sale.

RECENTLY LAUNCHED AND ONGOING 

Civic (CVC): at the time of writing this, the Civic token sale is still boldly sprinting towards the finish line. The reason it's not at its $33 million goal yet is because the team introduced an innovative "queueing" system into the token sale mechanics. Each "wave" of participants has a lower CVC cap it can purchase. This is done primarily to bring as many people as possible into the ecosystem. If you still want to buy CVC, you have a chance, but keep in mind that the allocation was now at $100 per person last time we checked. 

21Million (21M): we mentioned this token sale in our last review, it's a project that intends to take on the whole big Hollywood machine by launching a decentralized production company that will be filming a TV series about (you guessed it) blockchain and Satoshi Nakamoto's real identity. The project has already gathered enough funds to meet its minimum goal. Although we highly doubt it will reach its current cap of 10000 ETH, it's an interesting one to watch! 

Polybius (PLBT): this one hasn't been launched "recently" per se, but at $23 million gathered to date and a $25 million "ultimate goal," we predict that it has a fair playing chance to be a success. Polybius is taking on the whole banking system by combining "features of modern banking, IoT, Big Data and Blockchain-based technologies while also meeting security and UX requirements." 

Sphre (AIR): another token sale that has been launched a while ago and intends to go one for even longer. So far, it has raised 1562 BTC (around 40% of its cap) from only 824 participants. We expect this one to maybe hit its third milestone, but not progress much more beyond that. Sphre is a Civic competitor, but without Vinny Lingham's magic touch or a noble cause to disrupt governance. 

LESSONS LEARNED 

We mentioned Corion Platform and Orocrypt in our last week's review. Neither of these is looking too promising at the moment to investors. Corion has raised just under $1 million at the time of writing this and the ICO is not generating a lot of buzz. Orocrypt is looking almost dead altogether, with a mere €100,000 raised days after the start. This goes to show that you really need to tick all the boxes in today's oversaturated ICO market. With so many new token sales launching daily, you need to have a great vision, a stellar team, deep understand of marketing for blockchain-related products, do your groundwork in community outreach, engage with media and much, much more. This is not an easy feat and, by no means is it "easy" money. 

OPEN PRE-SALES: 

• Bitquence, crypto-wallet with asset management and liquidity network.
• dao.casino, blockchain protocol for gambling, MVP is available, accepting pre-sales
• FunFair, blockchain platform and open-source protocol for online casinos. 2 days left until token sale starts.
• Populous, invoice and trade finance platform, still accepts pre-sales.

NEXT WEEK TOKEN SALE LAUNCHES (22 June - 29 June)

• Funfair - world's fastest casino platform, launches the token sale at 22nd of June
• OpenANX - decentralised crypto exchange. Read the Smith& Crown report on it. Opens at June, 22. 
• Tenx, long-anticipated blockchain payment platform, launches at 24th of June. 
• Omise, ewallet platform for payments, cross-border remittances, rewards points, launches at 27th of June, and this is our personal favourite among the next week token sales. 
• PrimalBase - distributed Workspace for tech community. Opens at 26th of June.
• Bitquence - allows anyone to buy, sell and trade a pre-determined basket of cryptocurrency. Launches at 28th of June.

TO READ

• Top-tier mainstream media is still pushing regulators to step in: Reuters.
• When every altcoin seems to be stuck in a perpetual pump-and-dump cycle, there is one that keeps on growing, slowly and proudly. This altcoin is the IOTA token… But what is this token all about?
• A huge avalanche of meta-tokens is upon us and it's only going to grow in the coming months. In times like this, it's important to remember: no, your business probably doesn't need to be decentralized!
• A blockchain-based token, but no ICO. Does this even happen these days?!
• A good reminder that what you see during the token sale is just the tip of the iceberg. 4 stages of Token Sale by Open Zeppelin Group.

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