CO Definition - What is ICO

ICO is the abbreviation for Initial Coin Offering. Here, companies collect money to bring a new crypto currency to the market. Everyone who invests money will receive an agreed sum of the new coins as soon as they are introduced. An ICO is therefore a high-risk investment. It can happen that the coin is never fully developed or that nobody wants it. Then you lose your entire investment.

Many fraudsters also use ICOs to collect money. However, they never have the intention to establish a new crypto currency, they just want to collect money from investors. Once they have enough money together, the site is taken offline and all investors lose their money. However, many ICOs also give away their coins at so-called air drops to generate attention.

This can be very worthwhile, as you can sometimes get a few euros in the new currency.