Which child of blockchain technology will markets ultimately love more, cryptocurrencies looking to be stores of value, or initial coin offerings (ICOs) looking to fund new digital services? In crypto, Bitcoin prices have been increasingly volatile, bigly affected by hostile actions by the Chinese government, feeding into a bear thesis that governments will ultimately make life difficult for stateless currencies. Although the rising wave of ICOs has swept past the bubble question for now, many ICOs may lack what leading cryptocurrencies have, a niche of buyers who want to hold, and not simply trade, the coin. ICOs of "utility tokens" with high "velocity" -- that is, proportion of flippers into fiat currency relative to longer-term holders -- could be setting themselves up for big valuation downdrafts down the road, with even some crypto purists skeptical of their value.
Assessing Children of Blockchain: Cryptocurrencies vs. ICOs
