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Written by: Michael Hodapp / Lukas Schor of The Argon Group
This report contains the following sections:
- Market Analysis
- News
- Argon Group ICOs
- Important Dates
- Crypto Event Calendar
- Upcoming ICOs
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Market Analysis
December was another exciting month for ICO growth, with 49 deals closing at over $6m, up starkly from 17 in October and 35 in November. Median deal size (accounting for raises over $6m) was up month over month, from $17m in November to $19m in December. Based on Argon preliminary data, December looks to be the most successful month for ICO fundraising yet, with funding in excess of $1.2b, fuelled by significant overall market appreciation.
Source: CoinDesk + Argon Data (Dec. preliminary)
Notable raises include Swiss based Sirin Labs (SRN), which raised $158m with the promise of secure blockchain based smartphones and computers. While impressive, it should be noted that the token can be used to purchase Sirin products, which is likely the main reason for the large raise. tZERO, building a cutting edge alternative trading system, also received $100m within a day of opening their pre-sale to accredited investors. A public sale is expected to begin January 18th, which could substantially increase the raise.
SingularityNet (AGI) hit their hard cap of $36m less than 60 seconds after lifting their individual cap. The company is building a decentralized marketplace for artificial intelligence tools and services. A two-phased sale which began with a 5 ETH individual cap ensured a wide token allocation within the community.
As far as the crypto market overall, Ripple (XRP) was undoubtedly the biggest newsmaker, skyrocketing well over 1000% month over month, reaching a market cap of over $122b, ~48% of BTC. It remains to be seen whether XRP will be widely adopted as an instrument for banks and institutions.
Top 10 Crypto Performance (1-Month)Top 10 Crypto Performance (1-Year)
Crypto Recap
Bitcoin Futures: Last month we witnessed the first step of institutional investors getting into the cryptoasset market. The regulated FX marketplaces Cboe and CME launched their bitcoin futures, which make it possible for institutional investors to benefit from price fluctuations of bitcoin without actually buying bitcoins themselves. Read more.
Bitcoin Cash launched on Coinbase: On December 19th, one of the most popular cryptoasset exchanges, Coinbase, announced the highly anticipated addition of Bitcoin Cash to the platform. The announcement came as a surprise, as the launch wasn’t expected until Q1 2018. Naturally, the price of Bitcoin Cash skyrocketed immediately (up to +800%). However, the announcement was followed by allegations of insider trading, which pushed Coinbase to open up internal investigations. Read more.
South Korea regulates cryptoasset trading: South Korea’s government said it will impose additional measures to regulate speculation in cryptocurrency trading within the country. The steps will include a ban on opening anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and new legislation to allow regulators to close virtual coin exchanges if needed, the statement said. The new regulations come into effect on January 20th. Read more.
Litecoin founder Charlie Lee unloaded all his Litecoin holdings, attempting to dispel speculation that his public statements were meant to benefit his personal wealth. Read more.
CoinDesk announces “Top 10 Most Influential in Blockchain” list. Read more.
Israel follows the footsteps of Russia and Dubai and is considering offering a national cryptocurrency — a digital shekel — which would correspond in value to physical shekels. Read more.
Venezuela appears on track to launch a cryptocurrency, the Petro, in the coming days. President Nicolas Maduro claims the Petro will be backed by Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and other natural resources, with nearly a million miners already registered. Read more.
Pineapple Fund, operated by an anonymous benefactor with an eighty-six million dollar endowment, is donating bitcoin to worthy causes. Read more.
Argon ICOs
Nuggets, a consumer blockchain platform which gives users a single biometric tool for login/payment/ID verification using zero-knowledge storage, delayed its public sale launch in response to adverse market conditions. Find more information about the announcement here. The Nuggets ICO is advised by the Argon Group.
Protos, a crypto hedge fund which will invest in cryptocurrencies and digital tokens utilizing a data-driven trading strategy, concluded its public sale on December 15th. Additionally, Protos recently announced PRTS2, a utility token that will be “airdropped” to PRTS token holders and issued in a new ICO to finance some of the building of the “Multi-Manager Platform” infrastructure being created. The platform will provide crypto traders with the tools they need to build, test and run quant trading strategies. Find more information about the announcement here. The Protos ICO is advised by the Argon Group.
Important Dates
(01/03) Bitcoin celebrates 9th anniversary
(01/20) South Korea’s cryptoasset trading regulations come into effect
(02/16) Chinese New Year / South Korea Seollal
Crypto Event Calendar
Asia
(01/08) Dubai International Blockchain Summit, Dubai, UAE
(01/15–16) Blockchain Cruise Asia, Singapore
(1/17) Thai Blockchain Conference, Phuket, Thailand
(01/25) Blockchain & Bitcoin Conference Philippines, Philippines
North America
(01/07–08) CoinAgenda Summit, Las Vegas, NV
(01/15–16) World Crypto Economic Forum, San Francisco, CA
(01/17–19) The North American Bitcoin Conference, Miami, FL
(01/24–25) Crypto Funding Summit, Los Angeles, CA
(1/26) Blockchain Connect, San Francisco, CA
(01/24–26) Blockchain Protocol Analysis and Security Engineering 2018, Stanford, CA
(01/27–30) D10e, Cayman Islands
Europe
(01/09) CryptoFriends Networking Party, Moscow, Russia
(01/17–18) The Crypto Finance Conference, St. Moritz, Switzerland
(1/19–26) London Blockchain Week, London, United Kingdom
(01/30) Blockchain for SCF Masterclass, Frankfurt, Germany
Upcoming ICOs
(01/07) FINTRUX: A P2P lending ecosystem making unsecured loans highly secure.
(01/08) X8: A new store of value for crypto investors.
(01/08) PAYPRO: A decentralized financial marketplace and bank.
(01/08) VIMARKET: A virtual reality platform for experiencing virtual ownership before you buy.
(01/08) GLOBCOIN: The gateway to a global currency for a global village
(01/08) HYBRID BETTING: An experiment involving human skill with numbers.
(01/08) JOLYY: Blockchain tech for fair, cheap and efficient beauty services.
(01/08) BLOCKFOOD: A decentralized food ordering platform.
(01/10) BITHUB: Aiming to create a next generation digital asset exchange.
(01/10) ADHIVE: AI and community powered platform for native video advertising.
(01/10) ASTORGAME: An eSports and online gambling platform.
(01/10) REALBLOCKCHAIN: A blockchain based Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT).
(01/10) SNAGRIDE: A decentralized AI ride sharing application on the Ethereum blockchain.
(01/12) CEDEX: A certified blockchain based diamond exchange.
(01/15) RESTART ENERGY DEMOCRACY: Major EU energy company launching an energy trading ecosystem.
(01/15) ORIGIN TRAIL: Empowering quality food through transparency.
(01/15) SMARTCITY: A platform for building smart cities.
(01/15) RXEAL: A real estate investment platform built on blockchain tech.
(01/15) BABB: The world bank for the micro economy.
(01/19) STOCKCHAIN GLOBAL: Improving how financial assets are bought, managed, and sold.
(01/20) SQUEEZER: A platform for everyone to create blockchain apps like a pro.
(01/20) REALPOUND: A decentralized real estate investment platform.
(01/21) STOP THE FAKES: An anti-counterfeit and copyright blockchain based service.
(01/22) STREAMITY: A decentralized exchange platform for cryptocurrency.
(01/22) DADI: A new era of cloud computing services, powered by blockchain technology.
(01/22) HUSH: Building a regulated, tokenized, cryptocurrency compatible bank.
(01/23) LYMPO: A blockchain platform for monetizing spoqrts and health data.
(01/25) DOC COIN: A global service integrating the entire online medicine industry.
(01/26) AWORKER: A decentralized professional platform built on Ethereum.
(01/26) GOHELPFUND: A blockchain platform for fast humanitarian fundraising.
(01/31) PHARMABIT: A platform which aims to change the medical industry.
(01/31) SAPIEN: A platform that rewards creators, fights fake news, & shares ad revenue.
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Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.