The pre-sale target (US$16.8 million) for new decentralized payment and service platform, Bezant, was hit in just over an hour. This makes it the fastest selling token in Asia’s history.

The platform seeks to help e-commerce merchants, content creators and online influencers in reaching their target audiences and provide a means of secure, fast and reliable payment for everyone involved.

After their pre-sale target had been reached, Bezant opened a ‘pre-sale bonus round’ to raise another US$4 million, and even that was completely funded in less than five minutes.

The interest surrounding this particular ICO should surprise nobody after reading the roster its leaders: they include  Daesik Kim, the co-founder of Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, as well as key developers of Kakao, another big player in the South Korean internet sector.

Daesik, who is Bezant’s Chief Cryptocurrency Officer, had this to say on their success so far:

We couldn’t be more pleased with the results – reaching nine figures with practically zero marketing spend – and would like to thank the community for its confidence and support. I’m proud to lead Bezant’s token sale effort and this is just the first of many milestones on our roadmap that we are working tirelessly to achieve. Bezant is a game changer in the content and influencer industry as our team, with the support of seasoned industry heavyweights, builds a vibrant and thriving ecosystem for creators and consumers alike.”

Bezant wants to ‘unleash original digital content’ by providing creators alternatives in monetizing content without involving traditional financial institutions – all through the blockchain. Their target market includes e-commerce merchants and mobile app developers.

By the end of this year, it is projected that consumers will spend more than US$110 billion through mobile app stores. Three years after, in 2021, e-commerce sales are believed to exceed US$4.5 trillion.

Bezant hopes to facilitate this growth through its platform in a decentralized manner, giving a higher percentage of the profits generated to the individuals who create the content, rather than the global tech giants.

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Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, says that ICOs are not just “good-to-have” but “necessary” to promote technological development and economic growth. In a lengthy post on LinkedIn he argues that for investors, “the fast movers will reap exponential benefits” and tells us “Don’t get left behind”.

ICOs are currently under scrutiny from the media and regulators due to a string of high profile scams and instances of financial mismanagement. The SEC has stepped up its attention on the fledgling sector, claiming jurisdiction over the space after SEC chair Jay Clayton told the US Senate Banking Committee last December, “I believe that every ICO I’ve seen is a security”.

However, according to Zhao, the ICO model is still superior to the traditional VC (venture capital) model. Central to Zhao’s argument is the ease of raising funds by issuing tokens. Zhao suggests that it is “about 100 times easier” than dealing with VCs, which implies that there “may be 100 times more startups, well-funded startups, where ICOs are allowed”.

Comparing two countries, one of which allows ICOs, and one which does not, the ICO-friendly territory will have “100 times more well-funded startups”. In such a situation, Zhao asks, “what would their relative speed of technological advancement and economic development be?” and “which country will become wealthier over time?”

For Zhao ICOs are better for countries, startups and investors. Fundraising is so much more efficient that a company’s leadership, particularly its CEO, can focus more on its product.

Not only can an ICO raise more money, more quickly, but because of the distributed nature of the investors, the company will benefit from “thousands of people around the world” who will “use your product as soon as it is launched, spend all day beta testing your product, or discuss with you about new neat (and sometimes useless) features that you haven’t thought about.”

The flexibility of the ICO model also makes investment an option for those who do not have spare millions of dollars. Although some VCs will take money from smaller investors, there will be a minimum investment amount, management fees and no say in where your money goes.

On Scams and Failure

The two major arguments levelled against ICOs are scams and a high failure rate. On the first Zhao believes that they “exist everywhere, in every industry” and “We don’t need to re-invent the wheel here” as “the same law enforcement dealing with scams in traditional industries still apply in new industries”.

On the failure rate Zhao points out that traditional startups also frequently fail. If anything, ones pursuing the ICO model may have a better chance of success as the leadership can focus more on the product and less on courting investment. Also, “ICOs help jumpstart the project with an initial user base”, which allows for immediate feedback on the product.  

Zhao does not pretend that everything is fine in the sector but notes that “we are still in early days of the industry”; problems should be expected, and then solved. After all, “if we had given up e-commerce/internet because there was identity theft or credit card fraud, where would the world be today?” Progress comes from solving the problems, and “whoever deals with the issues best will be the winners”.

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In a stunning reversal, Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb has decided against launching its own token through ICO.

Last week it was widely reported that Bithumb, South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, was planning a token sale to take place in Singapore due to South Korea’s restriction on ICOs. Though few details were made available by the exchange, it was believed that the offering was targeting institutional investors and high net worth individuals.

However, local media is now reporting that Bithumb has cancelled the ICO as a “preemptive measure” against scammers, or those “who have malicious intentions against domestic investors”. However, it seems more likely that pressure from South Korean regulators forced the change.

South Korean authorities have an ambivalent relationship with cryptocurrency and ICOs, recognising their potential as a driver of economic growth but worried by their potential to destabilise the economy.

Rumours of an crypto exchange ban panicked markets worldwide earlier this year, though public outcry eventually caused the government to withdraw any such plans. ICOs, on the other hand, are prohibited in South Korea. Companies there are circumventing the law by conducting their offerings from other territories, usually Singapore or Hong Kong.

South Korean regulators were apparently most concerned about the potential for “internal price manipulation” if the exchange listed its own coin. When asked about the chances that South Korea might reverse its ICO ban, an official from the Financial Supervisory Commission answered that, “we do not intend to involve the virtual money market as an electronic financial institution in the future.”

Not everyone is convinced that an exchange as experienced as Bithumb would announce a real ICO then change its mind so quickly. The original announcement brought the company a lot of attention, which just might have been the intention all along.

https://t.co/tVs0vY2qa4

Bithumb has decided to forego it’s ICO plans for Bithumb Coin. There have already been too many scams and they are worried about potential regulations.

Could it have just been a extremely well thought out marketing plan? 🤔

— Korean Crypto & Blockchain News (@CryptoOfKorea) 24 April 2018

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