Abstract
In this chapter we describe the phenomenon of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), i.e. unregulated offerings of digital tokens, built on the innovative blockchain technology, as to provide a means to collect finance for a project on the Internet, disintermediating any external platform, payment agent or professional investor. ICO tokens allow the access to platform services, may serve as cryptocurrencies, or grant profit rights; they are traded on electronic exchanges and represent a new financial asset. We highlight the issues emerged with respect to information asymmetries and moral hazard and we review the nascent empirical literature exploring the ICO token market.
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Adhami, S., Giudici, G. (2019). Initial Coin Offerings: Tokens as Innovative Financial Assets. In: Hacioglu, U. (eds) Blockchain Economics and Financial Market Innovation. Contributions to Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25275-5_4
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