ICOs raise 35% less funds in Q1 2019 compared to Q4 2018

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It’s no secret that the initial coin offering (ICO) market has slowed down in recent times. And now, a report by ICObench has put up the numbers to prove it. The quarterly report revealed that the number of ICOs that raised funds had halved. In Q4 last year, 207 projects raised funds out of the 585 that held ICOs. In the first quarter of this year, 328 ICOs were held, but only 107 managed to raise funds.

The total funds raised also took a hit despite the average funds raised per ICO going up. The 107 projects raised $902 million in Q1 compared to $1.4 billion in the previous quarter, a 35 percent reduction. However, the average funds raised per ICO went up by close to $2 million from $6.8 million to $8.4 million.

Keeping in line with the prevalent trend, most ICOs raised between $1 million and $5 million. In Q4 last year, ICOs in this category made up 40 percent of the total number. This figure remained unchanged in Q1 this year. However, in Q1 2018 when ICOs were still doing quite well, the highest proportion of projects raised between $10 million and $25 million.

The report also revealed that Ethereum retained its stranglehold as the preferred crypto for ICO issuers with a commanding 88 percent lead. Waves, Stellar, Bitcoin Core (BTC) and NEO were the other cryptos used. The US also retained its position as the biggest ICO market, both in funds raised and ICOs launched. Singapore, Russia and the UK were the other big ICO markets.

Platform projects had the most successful ICOs in Q1, overtaking crypto projects which led in the previous quarter. They raised $560 million, slightly ahead of crypto projects which raised $542 million. Business services, banking, investment and real estate projects were the other well-funded projects.

The ICObench report contradicts an earlier and grimmer report by analytics platform TokenData. The report, which the firm released earlier this month, indicated that ICOs had raised just $118 million in Q1. It also revealed that close to half the projects it had tracked had failed to raise any money. Moreover, only 15 percent of the tokens issued were trading at or above the issuing price.