The Weird and Wonderful World of ICOs

By Adinah Brown

At last count there are more than 800 cryptocurrency coins out there and that list is growing. The far majority of these are ICO’s, meaning Initial Coin Offerings, that work like a cross between an IPO and crowd funding. Traders effectively purchase tokens in an ICO, that can then later be sold in exchange for the more concrete cryber-encrypted currencies of Bitcoin or Ethereum, the industry’s grandfathers.

Smart or just plain stupid, in this article we provide a list of some the more obscure or at least eye-brow-raising cryptocurrencies out there.

 

Mooncoin – Perhaps one for the loony bin, Mooncoin still has high ambitions to revolutionize investing the way we know it. Instead of researching companies or markets, you can monetize your preferred investment choices, by earning Mooncoins when others like them too. Sounds strange? Well, not to all of us. Their market cap is at $21 million.

 

 

Dogecoin – AKA the Doge. Initially issued as a joke currency, it soared to popularity with its famous broken-English meme that went viral, turning the dodge into a coin-market star. With its $280 million market cap, it’s taken on some ambitious projects such as sponsoring Nasdaq race cars, paid homage to Cool Runnings by sending a Jamaican bobsled team to the Winter Olympics and funded the digging of water wells in Africa.

 

 

Potcoin – The preferred crypto-currency of choice for potheads. Specifically built for the cannabis consuming community, with its market cap of $22 million it has sponsored some equally controversial projects, such as bringing Dennis Rodman to North Korea.

 

 

 

Legend’s Room – An only-in-Las-Vegas enterprise, this ICO provides holders with a lifetime VIP membership to a strip club that’s run by a former martial arts fighter, Phil “New York Bad Ass” Baroni. The privilege only goes to those holding 5,000 tokens, and even than you still have to pay for your drinks.

 

 

TrumpCoin – Many attribute Trump’s campaign success to Twitter, but truth be told that’s not the only modern medium he took advantage of to succeed in his electoral campaign. Trump created his own ICO for the said purpose of, you guessed it, “Making America Great Again”. Coin holders, aka TrumpCoin Ambassadors, earn more tokens by posting weekly articles that support Trump on their Facebook page. At its height a Trump Coin was worth 51 cents with a total value of $3.38 million, this has since slumped a fair bit to 6 cents or $427,000.

 

 

Insanecoin – Hosting a more obscure concept than most others, the website claims “Insane Coin is more than just a coin, it is a happening… a state of mind”. Ah, Okay? While there is no prerequisite for insanity to buy the coin, we assume you’d have to be at least close to mental instability. Its ambitions are to open an Insane Space storefront in England and establish a voting system, perhaps an intergalactic one? I’m not really sure…?

 

About the Author:

Adinah Brown is a professional writer who has worked in a wide range of industry settings, including corporate industry, government and non-government organizations. Within many of these positions, Adinah has provided skilled marketing and advertising services and is currently the Content Manager at Leverate.