Between December and March, token sales consistently raised between a billon and billion and half dollars per month. That number dropped off dramatically in April as far fewer token sales were held.
The ICOdrops website, which features most prominent token sales, listed just eighteen which concluded during April. These ICOs were collectively looking to raise $347 million but achieved $226 million, although some project teams are as yet to finalise their figures. The real number is likely between $250 and $300 million.
Fewer Numbers, Smaller Hardcaps
Several factors led to the large drop in funding raised. Firstly, there were far fewer sales – April’s eighteen sales were well below the corresponding figures of 58, 40 and 27 for January, February and March respectively. Secondly, the average project was looking to raise $19 million, which was well below the average of $30 million between December and March.
Perhaps the most significant observation is that there were no sales looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Earlier months had seen ICOs such as Dragoncoin, Telegram, Bankera and Huobi which were all seeking between $200 million and $2 billion each.
At some point the momentum of new ICOs coming to market was going to slow regardless of market conditions. However, the slowdown was exacerbated by volatility in the broader crypto market and regulatory uncertainty in several jurisdictions.
Despite the slowdown in token sale numbers, demand from retail investors is as strong as ever – 11 of April’s 18 ICOs raised 80 percent or more of what they were seeking.
The largest sale for the month was by Nexo, which raised just over $52 million. Other notable sales were held by Thrive and Holo which raised $26 million and $20 million respectively.
