A recent survey by the consultancy firm ICS Statis Group showed that more than 80% of the ICO, carried out in 2017, were considered fraudulent. The study took into account the life cycle of the ICO, which was launched in 2017, starting with the original proposal of the sale, until the mature phase of the trade on an exchange.
According to the study, so far, more than 70% of ICO funding reached high-quality projects in 2017, although more than 80% of projects were identified as fraudulent. Analysts found that 4% of ICO failed and 3% left the field.
According to the study, the total financing of coins and tokens in 2017 was $11.9 Billion out of which $1.34 Billion around 11% of ICO funds went under scams, the vast majority was attributed to three major fraudulent projects; Savedroid ($50 Million), Arisebank ($600 Million), and Pincoin ($660 Million) and, representing $1.3 Billion in total. This suggests that although a large number of ICOs were scammers, they received very little money compared to the sector as a whole.
According to a study by Carbon Black, Cybersecurity Company in June, in the H1 of 2018 around $1.1 Billion digital currencies were stolen. The company said criminals use the dark network to enable the large-scale theft of cryptocurrency. According to sources, estimates show that the market 12 thousand marketplaces and 34,000 offering, through which the hacker can benefit from.
In a joint report, the consulting firm PwC and the Swiss Crypto Valley association showed that the volume of ICO in the period January to May 2018 reached $13.7 Billion, which is now twice the value as much as the market projected to reach in the previous. With the growing trend of cryptocurrency, come some high profile digital scams that hold the value in billions.
Karen Evans is a reporter at Uk Tabloid, focusing on politics, the justice system, immigration, and everything in between. She is based in London, and previously was a reporter at the Daily’s city hall bureau.
