How NEO Can Play a Big Role In Determining The Future of ICOs
Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) - a decentralized way of raising money by issuing tokens - has turned out to one of the most popular ways of fundraising by startups. This year in 2017, ICOs alone contributed to over $2 billion in market cap in the overall cryptocurrency market. However, this method of fundraising has been in the scrutiny of several regulatory bodies and agencies from prominent countries like China, South Korea and many other countries. ICOs have been even banned in a few of these countries who claim that they pose big threats to investors and carries a huge risk due to its nature of non-regulated ways of fundraising.
Especially after the major Chinese crackdown this year in September, banning ICOs to operate within its boundaries, other countries have been the following the suit. Ever since then, the ICO market has experienced a bit of slowdown. However, one cryptocurrency which has been recently in news and surging to new highs constantly is NEO. Some sources say that even though the Chinese government has issued a temporary ban, the process of fundraising has a long way to go. If at all the Chinese government resumes the operations of ICOs in near future, the fundraising process will revolve around centralized and government platforms, unlike the existing method of issuing digital tokens on Ethereum blockchain.
Many believe that NEO can play a big role in this regard as the cryptocurrency is being referred to as the Ethereum of China. Although the Chinese government has not shown any concrete interest in NEO, there is genuine and outside support from people over the acceptance of NEO as the new ICOs platform. Many people say that the NEO project completely follows the rules and operational guidelines framed by China and is exempted from the Chinese regulations.
If the rumors turn out to be true at all, NEO is going to surely enjoy a premium position in the cryptocurrency market. However, note that although there are stories floating regarding NEO, nothing can be said with concrete proof for the time being as for any cryptocurrency to operate in China it needs legal approval from the government.
Some of the sources also claim that there has been a genuine interest show by several big private corporations across the globe. Companies like OnChain and Microsoft has shown a growing interest in NEO in the recent past as their preferred blockchain platform. However, in this case too, there is no official word yet regarding any such proceeds and hence it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Many within the crypto community also believe that the ban imposed by China is temporary in nature and there is every possibility of Chinese government completely lifting it off anytime in future. NEO has certainly got the essential technology to allow people for organizing ICOs, however, it will be interesting to see how much its’ being accepted in future as things take shape.