In a large-scale study, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, the 50 financially most successful ICOs of the year 2017. She compared the promises of the White Paper with the actually written code. The results are a little surprising, however, show perspectives for the future.

It is the smell of the big quick money, the power of the ICO market so attractive. Had you invested but at the time, in Ripple or Ethereum – they’d have filled the bags now bulging. It is in Token – pressed to promise to be somewhere documented in the Code, and the least check Can from lack of.

– regulation and trust – pillars of the crypto market

The four researchers of the University of Pennsylvania participated. In your on 18. July study published in „Coin-Operated Captialism“ explained to more than 100 pages, what is wrong in the current. ICO-market: regulation and trust.

especially the latter is the factor on which most of ICOs as well as Bitcoin build. Trust in technology trust in institutions – the technology ruled. Trustless Trust the cue all the „techno-libertarian“ investors and enthusiasts is here, with the help of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all the Altcoins, the (circulating financial)System (want to):

„ICOs […] take a [small] place in the regulatory line. You can use a basic tension between the right cross and pseudonyms aspects of crypto-Assets on the one hand, and the objectives of tax authorities and prosecutors, on the other hand.“

the researchers also found, however, there is currently a Problem: The (blind) trust in technology is not always justified. Because you compared the White Paper of the 50 economically most successful ICOs of the year 2017, with the actual Code and found that the promises have not been respected. So many ICOs is not managed, apparently, to provide your investors with the protection against Insider Trading. Pump-and-Dump-schemes are, ultimately, a well-known phenomenon in the crypto world that can be attributable not least to lack of regulation.

another Problem: the centralization.

ICOs and the cross of the decentralisation

An important core point in the crypto-Ecosystem that can be found as a keyword in any White Paper, is decentralisation. Here, too, the researchers found inconsistencies between the Code, White Paper, and the platforms. So many ICOs code could be open based back door. By allowing non-public Code in the platforms, they could always remain in control of the „remote“ platforms.

air to the top of the market can be grown is still air upwards – but there you will also grow thinner

But the market and the technology can still. This is not only proven by the Numbers. Because, as the researchers of the study say that have collected up to July of this year, 430 ICOs almost 14 billion dollars. In the big comparison that is not very much at all, it is „a bit less than what Facebook got within a day of his IPO.“

And how it looks with the questions of decentralization, the level of trust in the technology and related regulation? The study then comes to the right conciliatory result:

„We believe that there is in all the madness, something is to preserve it.“

Currently, the ICO-the market would still be a mixture of investment bubble and the illegal market. Nevertheless, In analogy to the dot-com Era, you will see the Potential that the needle will prevail in the haystack. A few of the projects that have the right technology that will survive:

„The Smart Contract is at the heart of the ICOs and enables a whole Set of innovative […] practices. It is what allows companies ICOs declare is – for Good or for Bad. […] Coca-Cola vending machines were a product of their time. The same is unquestionably also for ICOs.“

Ultimately, it is now essential to create a regulatory framework. This could come from both programmers, but also by public authorities or institutions. The market needs to grow.