An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a fundraising tool that allows a project to raise equity by trading a cryptocurrency that has immediate, liquid value, for a new currency or tokens that might have value in the future. It is a quick and easy way to run a kickstarter campaign in a decentralized manner.

As the name suggests, ICOs are akin to IPOs, but in which participants receive cryptocoins or tokens instead of stocks or shares. For the sake of simplicity, our tutorial will assume that an ICO is the same as a token sale, though it is often argued that there are differences in what these terms mean.

In this chapter, we will discuss a practical implementation of an ICO on Ethereum in detail. We won't be discussing anything related to the wider financial aspects of ICOs, and to this end, this chapter won't do any of the following:

• Give advice on whether your project requires an ICO
• Give advice on which ICOs to invest in
• Discuss whether ICOs should be regulated, or what type of financial instrument they should be classed as