PitchBook has an update for Q3 2017 of ICOs and venture capital investment in the blockchain.
* regulatory statements in China and the US have yet to temper market enthusiasm for the red-hot cryptocurrency and ICO market.
Regulatory action against secondary exchanges in China may put short-term downward pressure on an overheated market, but will ultimately prove bullish.
* SEC recognition that some tokens are securities and some are not is a sensible approach that will encourage the best ideas to continue in a sandbox, while less-innovative projects will face more scrutiny.
* VC investment in blockchain companies has remained relatively flat, even as the ICO market has exploded.
* Only half of valuation step-ups in blockchain companies have outpaced the price increase of bitcoin in the same time period—though that doesn’t account for survivorship bias.
Billions of funding dollars have poured into blockchain companies in 2017, and token sales in 2017 alone have amassed about $2 billion — already crushing last year’s token-sale total of $256 million.
Private investments into blockchain companies have topped $4.5 billion so far this year.
China and other Asian markets have long been drivers of crypto market price action. As of late 2016, 90% of global bitcoin/fiat conversion took place in CNY. A confluence of the cheap electricity and computer hardware required for bitcoin mining and a cultural predilection for saving have propelled the world’s second largest economy into an important driver of the billions flowing into crypto assets.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.