Whilst Ethereum continues to dominate as the leading platform of choice for ICOs which came to market in 2018, new statistics from ICO Bench indicate that Stellar has now consolidated its position as the next most popular platform for blockchain start-ups seeking financing through a token sale mechanism.Â
Over 2700 ICOs registered with the ICO Bench platform in 2018, and of those just over 2400 – representing just under 90% of all token sales coming to market over that period – have issued, or plan to issue, their tokens via the Ethereum network.Â
The remaining 350 ICOs are distributed thinly across the 102 other blockchain platforms registered on the ICO Bench databases. However, 50 of these list Stellar as either their primary or unique platform, now making Stellar by far the leading platform within the AltICO space.Â
Stellar’s Increasing Momentum
Whilst the figures may help consolidate Stellar’s growing reputation as a leading contender within the blockchain space, it is perhaps the contrast in the figures cited with their pre-2018 equivalents that may make for more striking reading.Â
Prior to 2018, ICO Bench had registered an accumulated total of just under 720 ICOs onto its books, with just over 610 of these (85%) run on the Ethereum network – indicating a likely consolidation of Ethereum’s monopoly within the ICO space over the course of 2018 when many analysts had been predicting the opposite.Â
For the same period, however, ICO Bench had registered only two projects organised on the Stellar blockchain, indicating an exponential twenty-five-fold increase in the number of projects now opting for a Stellar-based token sale, and making the platform the fastest growing blockchain network of 2018 when viewed through the lens of project adoption.Â
The Stellar figures are arguably perhaps more impressive again when viewed in the context of an overall shrinking market, as the latest figures from CoinSchedule for funds raised by ICOs in September so far indicate a return to levels not seen since May 2017.Â
