After the concept of initial coin offerings (ICOs) fizzled out, the crypto world started showing interest in initial exchange offerings (IEOs). The popularity of IEOs has witnessed a tremendous increase in 2019 and to leverage this popularity, Bitfinex has come up with a slightly modified and tinkered concept of IEO.
What’s New?
Well, the first thing that the exchange has done is the change of the name. Bitfinex Token Sales will know the platform which was formerly called Tokinex IEO in the future. In its new avatar, a new platform will primarily deal with the development, launch, and issue of digital assets. To promote sales of its own UNUS SED LEO, the platform will feature its token during the launch of the projects. Investors holding LEO coins will be benefited in terms of higher allocations in projects during future sales.
According to Paolo Ardoino, chief technical officer at Bitfinex said the company has decided to deal with the strategy regarding IEOs, as it wants to adopt a long-term approach towards these projects. The current trend in IEOs is to promote the offering and focus on the short-term gains associated with projects. However, with this new platform, the company has decided to focus on long-term aspirations, which will ultimately help both organizations and investors and create a win-win situation for both stakeholders.
K.im Project:
The new platform will start working with the launch of K.im project. This project is associated with content monetization and is a brainchild of Kim Dotcom, a well-known political-activist and entrepreneur. Project’s aimed to provide opportunities for online content creators and consumer to transact securely while taking further the concept of digital freedom. As explained by Kim Dotcom, the idea behind the invention of K.im to cut the middle-man and let people have content exchange without any monopolies and restrictions. Digital currencies like Bitcoin have been of great help in this regard, and now with the evolution of technology, we are gearing towards the launch of KIM token. The launch of the K.im’s IEO is scheduled for October 22, although the actual platform will be live only in the third quarter of next year. By that time, KIM tokens will also be live on Bitfinex platform.
Industry-Wise Implications:
It is interesting to witness the heightened interest in IEOs as recently Coinbase, counted among one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, has also hinted its plan to venture into IEOs. Kayvon Pirestani, director of institutional sales at Coinbase, commented that the company is doing its homework and exploring prospects of venturing into emerging services like IEOs. He said this during his interaction at the Invest: Asia Conference. Not only IEOs, but Coinbase is also looking forward to leveraging its expertise to drive revenue from STOs.
Crypto analysts and experts believe that, if Coinbase actually takes a plunge into IEOs, then it will join the likes of Binance, Bittrex, Bitfinex, etc. which are already getting benefited from the growing potential IEOs. However, when that happens to remain a mystery for now as there is no official timeline given by the company for its possible arrival in the IEOs space.