Table 1.
Descriptive statistics
| Mean | Median | Min | Max | SD | N | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Panel A: ICO characteristics | ||||||
| Is cryptographic token | 0.91 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.29 | 306 |
| Has a presale | 0.68 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.47 | 306 |
| Total amount raised (USDm) | 24.16 | 15.07 | 1.01 | 233.00 | 33.16 | 228 |
| Amount raised in crowdsale (USDm) | 18.03 | 10.76 | 0.50 | 218.84 | 26.70 | 262 |
| Amount raised in presale (USDm) | 6.02 | 1.12 | 0.00 | 193.65 | 15.01 | 246 |
| Fundraiser has minimum (“soft cap”) | 0.44 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 306 |
| Fundraiser has maximum (“hard cap”) | 0.95 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.22 | 306 |
| Percentage of hard cap raised (%) | 70.16 | 81.39 | 2.34 | 180.65 | 38.89 | 204 |
| Presale discount (%) | 34.18 | 30.00 | − 16.50 | 96.88 | 23.17 | 152 |
| Crowdsale max. discount (%) | 17.36 | 15.00 | 0.00 | 98.57 | 18.76 | 288 |
| Token share crowdsale investors (ex ante) | 0.47 | 0.49 | 0.01 | 1.00 | 0.27 | 248 |
| Token share presale investors (ex ante) | 0.11 | 0.04 | 0.00 | 0.70 | 0.15 | 247 |
| Token share team (ex ante) | 0.39 | 0.38 | 0.00 | 0.96 | 0.22 | 292 |
| Token share producers/miners (ex ante) | 0.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.88 | 0.12 | 300 |
| Unsold tokens “burnt” or proportional alloc. | 0.55 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 306 |
| Product or prototype developed | 0.51 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 306 |
| Qualified investors only | 0.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.18 | 306 |
| US retail investors excluded | 0.51 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 306 |
| High-quality advisory team | 0.41 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.49 | 306 |
| Use of proceeds mentioned | 0.71 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.45 | 306 |
| Legal advisor disclosed | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.44 | 306 |
| Has VC backing | 0.26 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.44 | 306 |
| KYC/AML procedure | 0.48 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 306 |
| Panel B: Investor protection | ||||||
| Is a security | 0.22 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.41 | 306 |
| Legal form and jurisdiction known | 0.88 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.33 | 306 |
| Legal entity is corporation or LLC | 0.90 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.31 | 269 |
| Registered in offshore financial center | 0.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.40 | 306 |
| Funding milestones | 0.04 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.20 | 306 |
| Independent custodian for ICO funds | 0.04 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.19 | 306 |
| Team tokens locked up | 0.58 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.49 | 306 |
| Team lockup period (weighted avg.) | 1.10 | 0.75 | 0.02 | 5.50 | 0.99 | 179 |
| Presale tokens locked up | 0.14 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.34 | 207 |
| Presale lockup period (weighted avg.) | 0.53 | 0.27 | 0.02 | 2.00 | 0.52 | 28 |
| Investors have governance rights | 0.18 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.38 | 306 |
The table shows summary statistics for a hand-collected sample of 306 ICOs that took place between March 2016 and March 2018 and raised at least $1 m according to secondary sources. All variables are defined in “Appendix 2”