Trade.io Review: Do We Really Need Another ICO Platform?

In 2017, initial coin offering (ICO) investors poured $5.6 billion into startups using this new fundraising vehicle. As of April 2018, startups had raised $6.8 billion through ICOs for the year. This is a very clear signal that startups see an opportunity and a market for raising capital, but also that investors themselves see an opportunity to put their money to work in an exciting new way. In this kind of environment, it's only natural that an ecosystem of connectors will arise to match investors with startups more easily through technology, and that's precisely what has happened.

By the end of June 2018, the total raised through ICO investing for the year was $13.7 billion, more than double of last year's figure. Where there is demand, there is huge opportunity. A cursory search for the number of ICO platforms currently operating left me empty-handed, however, a Google search for "ICO launch platform" returned over 6,000 results. That's huge considering the current spate of demand didn't hit until last summer. If we consider that 90 percent of these results only reference ICO launch platforms or return duplicate domains, that means there are likely at least 600 ICO launch platforms today (and I'm probably being conservative). Do we really need another one?

Or, maybe we should ask, Can we have a better one?

Why Trade.io May Be a Better ICO Launch Platform

The jury is still out on what makes for a good ICO launch platform, but if I were an ICO issuer, I'd want a platform that provided all the necessary services I would need to launch an ICO successfully. These include:

White paper creation assistance
A network of advisors
Smart contract creation
Token auditing and listing
ICO roadmap preparation
Fundraising assistance

Trade.io provides all of these services, and more. In fact, they also help ICO issuers manage their communities. What's more, the management team at Trade.io come to the table with investment banking experience, which is invaluable in this environment. But what is ICO issuance and listing without an audience? This is where Trade.io can really shine.

The flip side of issuance is investment. Without the investors, a token on any exchange is simply a sitting digital duck. It won't quack for long. Trade.io promises to match ICOs with the investors that want to back them.

What Trade.io promises investors is just as impressive as its promises for ICO issuers. Here's a list of services they aim to offer the ICO investor:

Know-your-customer (KYC) and Anti-money laundering (AML) compliance
Discount pre-ICOs and tokens
Free airdrops
Competitions, contests, and prizes
Early bird notifications and special offers

This doesn't seem like a very different slate of promises than any other ICO platform's promises, so what makes Trade.io different? I'm still on the waiting list so I haven't actually used the service yet, but one of the strengths that I think Trade.io brings to the table is the fact that it isn't decentralized.

Yes, in this case, centralization is a benefit as well as a feature, and I'll tell you why. ICO investing is risky. The failure rate for 2017 ICOs was at 59% as of February 2018. If you use a decentralized platform like #Bitshares, then you have to do all of your own due diligence on every single ICO in which you invest. If you invest in a lot of ICOs, that's a lot of homework, and you might as well flip a coin to make your selections because predicting which companies will succeed and which ones will belly flop is a soothsayer's science, which is to say it's no science at all. It's a luck of the draw.

On the other hand, if you have experienced and knowledgeable eyes on every ICO listing, eyes that will read the white paper, study the business model, and perform the kind of technical analysis you'd expect to determine the viability of a solid investment, then your chance of making good picks goes up drastically.

That's not to say that a centralized ICO launch platform is guaranteed to make you a successful investor, and I don't mean to say that Trade.io is the one platform to rise above them all. What I do mean is, a team of investment bankers has a better chance of spotting a good ICO investment than most ICO investors with little or no investing experience. I liken it to the rise of equity crowdfunding platforms over the past decade, especially in the real estate sector. The best platforms, in my opinion, are the ones with a solid underwriting strategy. They typically vet every project according to a strict set of pre-determined criteria and perform due diligence on the borrower. This cuts down on the legwork the investor has to do because the investor's due diligence can be limited to the platform itself. Find a good one you can trust and your success rate goes up precipitously. The success of such sites as Fundrise, RealtyMogul, and Patch of Land attest to this.

The problem with Trade.io is it hasn't established a track record yet. If you are an experienced investor who can perform his own due diligence and wants to, you might feel comfortable with a decentralized ICO launch platform like Bitshares. Everyone else would be better off with a centralized platform.

What Else You Need to Know About Trade.io

Trade.io is fully compliant with Switzerland and Hong Kong financial regulations. That's quite significant if you're looking for privacy. While the Trade.io team comes to the table with the necessary background for conducting ICO due diligence, and they promise to disclose quite a bit of valuable information on the ICOs they list on their platform, the company doesn't go into a lot of detail about their process for vetting ICOs. I would appreciate a bit more transparency in that regard, but for a startup, I realize it is risky to put out too much information too soon. The company also boasts of $300 million investment funding for its Angel Investor program "for potential participation in ICOs and blockchain projects." That sounds to me like they may be willing to put skin in the game. If so, that boosts their credibility in my book.

Initially, the investments available on the platform will include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and Trade.io's proprietary Trade Token. Trade.io also recently announced an airdrop partnership with BitNautic, a decentralized logistics platform on the Ethereum blockchain.

While there is much left to know about Trade.io, from what I can see at this point, it's an ICO launch platform worth keeping an eye on. To learn more, visit the following links:

Disclaimer: ICO investing is risky. Be sure to perform your own due diligence. Nothing in this post should be construed as financial advice. I am not a financial advisor. This inforation is for educational and entertainment purposes only.

Disclosure: I have written for Fundrise in the past. I have no relationship with any other companies mentioned in this post other than having recently signed up for Trade.io.

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