The Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has been a fundamental part of crypto startups since their rise in popularity during 2017 and was largely responsible for the subsequent cryptocurrency bubble. Startups or projects creating new currencies, services or apps launch an ICO to attract investors with an established digital token (Ethereum, Bitcoin etc.) and in exchange investors receive new tokens that they generally believe will provide a future return on their investment. This is roughly the equivalent of mainstream commerce’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) as a way of raising investment capital, except ICO tokens issued by blockchain businesses allowed access to the startup’s product or service, rather than representing any claim of ownership in the venture.