![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CAR-3-1.jpg\")
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Photo Source: ICORA<\/em><\/p>\n Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a new fund raising mechanism that integrates the applications of crowdfunding, blockchain, and crypto currency. ICO has become a means for startups or new project owner to use for fund raising executed via primary market to bypass the strict fund raising process (IPO) in capital market. With ICO, the company can raise the fund without diluting their ownership.<\/p>\n If the funds raised do not meet the minimum funds required within the specified timeframe, the fund is returned to the investors as the amount may not be sufficient to accomplish the project and that ICO is deemed to be unsuccessful.<\/p>\n No. ICO can be applied to any industry. However, it may not be suitable for every businesses \/ projects. There are 3 key factors to assess before starting an ICO<\/p>\n 1. Financial Feasibility<\/strong><\/p>\n Review financial projections, benchmark with industry and incorporate the cost of capital into financial. There is no point to successfully raise an ICO but the business has a cashflow problem at the end.<\/p>\n 2. Market Feasibility<\/strong><\/p>\n Identify potential investors of projects and collect feedbacks from them. It\u2019s never too early to test the market. Since ICO is rather new, the investors are clustered in some certain groups of crypto holders. This group of ICO investor is having different project judgement concepts. Therefore, some business may be viable, but may not be so attractive for ICO investors.<\/p>\n 3. Regulatory Feasibility<\/strong><\/p>\n ICO is designed to be a borderless fund raising mechanism where different countries have different stages of regulation development. To avoid legal complications down the road, it would be wise to understand different territory of regulations, especially in the territory of main investors, users, and the market.<\/p>\n 1. Idea (Business Model and Token usage) 1. Decide value proposition and token usage of project<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.1. Good projects are engineered and developed with a purpose. -define the clear benefit e.g. to solve pain point or to manage for the better society or new technology development<\/p>\n 1.2. Token usage \u2013 each token should have its own features and functions. The token that is purely speculative without clear function in the business model has a high tendency to risk and fraud. Furthermore, some regulation boundary such as Thailand doesn\u2019t support the idea of speculative token.<\/p>\n 2. Project Roadmap and milestone<\/strong><\/p>\n The project should present the clear roadmap and milestones \u2013 key activities the company would like to achieve and by when. The investors must understand the business landscape and should use their own judgement on activity and timeline feasibility. Some projects promise a fast turn around which is too good to be true.<\/p>\n 2.1. Some case may be scams even if the whitepaper looks good<\/p>\n 2.2. Avoid over-promised cases<\/p>\n 3. Form team & advisor<\/strong><\/p>\n 3.1. Team members should consist of different skill combination that will ensure the success the of the project.<\/p>\n 3.2. We should do some due diligence of the team and advisor. The project with the big name advisor does not guarantee the project success. In many cases, it is found that those big names advisors do not even know what project all about.<\/p>\n 4. Set token allocation<\/strong><\/p>\n 4.1. Decide token allocation e.g. to public, team & advisor, etc. (not too much on particular group to avoid market manipulation)<\/p>\n 4.2. Design plan for the usage of funds e.g. operation, investment, etc.<\/p>\n 5. Issue whitepaper<\/strong><\/p>\n 5.1 Consisting of background, technology, governance model and etc.<\/p>\n 5.2 Try to make it simple. \u2013 A good whitepaper does not have to be complicated. But it should be written in in easy term enough for most people to understand.<\/p>\n 5.3 Some whitepapers try to put all the \u201cbuzz words\u201d of technology and trends together. But in reality, we probably don\u2019t need that much complication to deliver the project.<\/p>\n 6. Create and manage social channels<\/strong><\/p>\n 6.1 Good ICO project will engage the community both offline and online<\/p>\n 6.2 Create effective communication via online channels<\/p>\n 6.3 Telegram is also recommended as a communication tool among people in the community.<\/p>\n 6.4 Community manager can make a difference and increase success by responding to questions in timely manner and updating project to community effectively.<\/p>\n 6.5 However, we have to be well aware of the fraud in the telegram too.<\/p>\n 7. Clear regulatory\/legal issues<\/strong><\/p>\n 7.1 To ensure that the business will not be sued. Before starting an ICO, it’s a must to ensure that the ICO is fully compliant with law & regulations e.g. corporate formation, right jurisdiction\/licenses, type of token, AML(Anti-Money Laundering)vs KYC (Know Your Customer) law, Taxation, with ads of token sales and whitepaper reviewed by legal firm.<\/p>\n 8. Clear token & ICO website<\/strong><\/p>\n 8.1 Ajarn Aor cited a sample web namely Howeycoin, which looks good but too good to be a real investment opportunity. This site was generated by a U.S. regulator with the purpose of illustrating a sample of a well-designed mock but fake ICO.<\/p>\n 9. Execute whitelisting & KYC<\/strong><\/p>\n 9.1 Whitelist means to register in advance to participate in an ICO<\/p>\n 9.2 The first steps, after whitelist has been closed, is to validate KYC to ensure that<\/p>\n customer is not part of a sanctioned list, a criminal, etc.<\/p>\n 9.3 Second, after whitelist is finalized then Communication is issued about when and how the token sales will be placed.<\/p>\n 10. Get token out of exchange<\/strong><\/p>\n 10.1 Should have clear listing strategy from lower tier exchange to top exchange. However, many projects try to avoid to name the exchange explicitly. This is due to the past incident that some project referred to well known crypto exchange to boost their price.<\/p>\n Her advice on how to spot scam project are as follow:<\/p>\n 1. Quality of Team & Advisor<\/p>\n \u2022 Massive red flag if this team is anonymous<\/p>\n \u2022 Beware of fake profiles e.g. LinkedIn<\/p>\n 2. Whitepaper<\/p>\n \u2022 Plagiarized white paper<\/p>\n \u2022 No clear use of blockchain<\/p>\n \u2022 No comprehensive roadmap<\/p>\n 3. Token Structure<\/p>\n \u2022 Disproportionate token distribution structure<\/p>\n \u2022 Too high guaranteed token price<\/p>\n 4. Website<\/p>\n \u2022 Insufficient information<\/p>\n 5. Community management<\/p>\n \u2022 Not clear message regarding the project update<\/p>\n Photo Source: ICORA<\/em><\/p>\n Time flies!<\/p>\n During the session, Ajarn Aor also added the gamification via online tool, www.kahoot.it We considered some quick & entertaining questions. For example: the definition of “whale”? The meaning of a bitcoin whale is an individuals or entities that holds large amounts of bitcoin. We were also able to pick up some of the knowledge tips via our line group among CAR classmates.<\/p>\n The second speakers of the day was K. Archari Suppiroj<\/strong>, Director of FinTech Department, SEC. She talked about hot issues regarding ICO Regulatory Framework.<\/p>\n \u2022 The case is unlike that of IPOs, for which the SEC can research information of what happened in other countries then apply appropriate rulings.<\/p>\n \u2022 In the case of ICOs, it is really new circumstance. The development occurred like a tsunami – sudden & about the same time around the world. Not much in the way of case study can be applied.<\/p>\n \u2022 Lots of bad news regarding ICO cases and also high volatility in the market where some people enjoy to the \u201cmoon\u201d (The meaning in crypto term is when the price goes up quickly), while others may go opposite way to the \u201cmao\u201d (Thai word- representing losses due to the market crash\/correction conditions)<\/p>\n \u2022 SEC considers the benefit of ICOs, thus stepped-in to draw the broad framework at least to eliminate a certain level of concern.<\/p>\n Covering electronic data units with similar purposes as specified by SEC board; these are mainly:<\/p>\n \u2022 Cryptocurrency – purpose: to be medium of exchange for goods, services, other rights\/ digital assets.<\/p>\n \u2022 Investment token* – purpose: to specify the right to participate in an investment e.g. revenue or profit sharing right (similar substance as securities)<\/p>\n \u2022 Utility token* – purpose: to acquire specify the right to acquire specific goods\/services (can be used as tool to add incentive for society e.g. motivate taxi drivers to drive in specific areas)<\/p>\n *Both Investment Token & Utility Token are offered via ICOs<\/p>\n Offering of newly issued digital tokens to public<\/p>\n \u2022 Issuer must be established as Companies (Co.Ltd.\/ PLC.)<\/p>\n \u2022 Deal screened by ICO Portal* before submitting to SEC<\/p>\n (note: Now in the stage of finalizing the regulation for the ICO Portal\/ The ICO Portal is similar to a financial advisor with the role of screening the possibility of deals, with a filing & prospectus requirement)<\/p>\n \u2022 Offering token through ICO portal recognized by the SEC<\/p>\n \u2022 Require final approval from the SEC<\/p>\n \u2022 Investors obtaining return or goods\/services as specified by token issuers<\/p>\n \u2022 Investment Amount Limit for retail investor is Baht 300,000<\/p>\n 2.2 Digital asset business<\/p>\n \u2022 Digital asset exchanges\/brokers\/ dealers must be licensed by the Ministry of Finance<\/p>\n \u2022 In compliance with standards set by SEC e.g. adequate capital; proper risk management (including against cyberthreats); Know your client\/ Customer due dilligent process; Measure to prevent anti-money laundering<\/p>\n \u2022 In secondary market for crypto\/token, people who wish to obtain crypto or token can execute transactions via licensed operators<\/p>\n Photo Source: ICORA<\/em><\/p>\n Crypto & ICO from the Bank of Thailand (BOT)’s Perspective by Dr. Thammarak Moenjak<\/strong>, Financial Strategy Director of BOT. He talked about the role of BOT which is mainly responsible in term of financial stability & development<\/p>\n 1. Money:<\/p>\n \u2022 Cash\/coin<\/p>\n \u2022 E-money (fully backed by cash) e.g. Rabbit Line Pay; AIS m pay; True money; Air Pay<\/p>\n 2. Cryptocurrencies +Money<\/p>\n \u2022 Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in other countries e.g. wholesale CBDC in Canada, Japan or retail CBDC in Cambodia<\/p>\n 3. Cryptocurrencies<\/p>\n \u2022 Decentralized cryptocurrencies e.g. bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin<\/p>\n \u2022 Privately issued cryptocurrencies \u2013type 1: stable coins back by fiat e.g. USC(Utility Settlement Coin), MUFG, J coin<\/p>\n \u2022 Privately issued cryptocurrencies \u2013type2: asset-like crypto e.g. Omisego, JFIN coin<\/p>\n 1. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and Privately issued cryptocurrencies – stable coins back by fiat both can be \u201cMedium of exchange\u201d, \u201cUnit of account\u201d and \u201cStore of value\u201d.<\/p>\n 2. Privately issued cryptocurrencies -Asset-like and Decentralized cryptocurrencies can be only \u201cUnit of account\u201d.<\/p>\n Dr. Thammarak cited the source from BIS Annual Economic Report 2018 that reason why Decentralized cryptocurrencies will never be money is as follow:<\/p>\n 1. Scalability<\/p>\n Imagine the size of ledger if it were to hold all payments of Thailand and the world thus it could have transaction congestion.<\/p>\n 2. Stability of value<\/p>\n In case of money, BOT plays key role in monitoring and adjusting interest rate to ensure the stability while no one keeps the supply in line with demand in cryptocurrencies market resulting in high volatility.<\/p>\n 3. Trust in the finality of payment<\/p>\n Unlike money , which allows for the verification of the settlements immediately<\/p>\n Software update in 2013 caused the inequality among countries<\/p>\n Forking<\/p>\n Fork*: In the cryptocurrency world – a fork is when a there is a change in the rules of the blockchain that the coin operates on or the nodes disagree on a historic transaction(s). *”source: www.Quora.com<\/p>\n Thai regulators include Ministry of Finance, Anti-money Laundering Office, BOT and SEC have been working together. Many concern were raised such as<\/p>\n \u2022 Money laundering (ML)\/ financing terrorism (FT) 1. create awareness\/ financial literacy\/ communication<\/p>\n 2. On 12Feb2018, BOT circulated letter asking financial institutions’ cooperation:<\/p>\n \u2022 Not to invest\/trade crypto Photo Source: ICORA<\/em><\/p>\n On the night of 3rd week in the Cryptoasset Revolution (CAR ) class by ICORA, we were pleased to meet Mr.Thanawat Taro Lertwattanarak<\/strong>, CEO, J Ventures.<\/p>\n Mr.Thanawat shared us his invaluable experience with us and his fruitful thought process regarding the 1st ICO case in Thailand.<\/p>\n This is the story of J Ventures, Subsidiary of SET-listed JMart Plc. In Feb 2018, Welcome change<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 Started from business aiming to improve margin<\/p>\n \u2022 Considered to adapt the new core tech trend : Blockchain, Big Data, Credit Scoring, IOT, Fintech, eWallet<\/p>\n \u2022 Prepared for future by setting new venture (J Ventures) and initiating new business model<\/p>\n \u2022 Quickly executed within only 6 months due to support from the owner, Mr. Adisak Sukumvitaya. Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Jay Mart Public Company Limited. In order to be benefit to Thai society, this project is intended to be the first case study in Thailand<\/p>\n Strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 J Ventures is small compared to other players in the digital lending market. Thus to compete with bigger players, they decided to fight in the fintech way and ICO is considered as a good option for fund raising. The fund will be used to develop the JFIN Decentralized Digital Lending Platform- JFIN DDLP”<\/p>\n \u2022 The system, JFIN DDLP, is intended to support the Jaymart Group with technological innovations for growth<\/p>\n \u2022 Normally Fintech has good initiative but may not have solid reputation as yet. In this case JMart ‘s branding is leveraged. This is regarded as the first ICO case backed by a listed company<\/p>\n The first ICO case study in Thailand<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 The success can be claimed from this ICO<\/p>\n \u2022 Mr.Thanawat shared that the next step still need to be proven. Let’s stay tuned and wait for the completion of JFIN DDLP system.<\/p>\n \u2022 He recommended those who would like to do an ICO should have a clear story. In his opinion, it’s a really impressive & challenging experience, even after finish ICO and apart from the completion of proposed project development, marketing &communication are also important.<\/p>\n Author:<\/strong>\u00a0Waleeporn Sayasit, Corporate Communications Director, TCC Technology Part #8 Step By Step to ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is the highlighted topic of today. Some key points, which we learnt from Ajarn Aor -Dr. Karndee Leopairote \u2013 CEO of ICORA are as follow: Photo Source: ICORA What is ICO? Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a new fund raising mechanism that integrates the applications of crowdfunding, blockchain, and crypto currency. ICO has become a means for startups or new project owner to use for fund raising executed via primary market to bypass the strict fund raising process (IPO) in capital market. With ICO, the company can raise the fund […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[276,284,102,278,274,280],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1612"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6118,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1612\/revisions\/6118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/open-tec\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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\n2. Whitepaper
\n3. Community Management<\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CAR-3-4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nPart #9<\/h3>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CAR-3-3.jpg\")
<\/h3>\nPart #10<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n\u2022 Investor protection
\n\u2022 Ponzi scheme
\n\u2022 Exchange control
\n\u2022 Taxation
\n\u2022 Financial stability (possible risk if banks invest in crypto currencies)
\n\u2022 Means of payment
\n\u2022 No conclusion whether they are assets or payment<\/p>\n\n
\n\u2022 Not to provide crypto exchange\/broker\/dealer services
\n\u2022 Not to provide crypto platform services
\n\u2022 Not to allow credit card purchase of crypto
\n\u2022 Not to support or advice on crypto investment\/ exchange<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.open-tec.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/CAR-3-2.jpg\")
<\/h3>\nPart #11<\/h3>\n
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\nJ Ventures completed ICO of 100 Million JFinToken at Bath 6.6 per token (Timing : before Royal Decree of Digital Asset Business)<\/p>\n\n
\nAdvisor:<\/strong>\u00a0Dr. Karndee Leopairote, CEO, ICORA
\nEditor:<\/strong>\u00a0John Bickel, Senior Consultant,\u00a0TCC Technology
\nSource:<\/strong>\u00a0ICORA \u2018s class, CryptoAsset Revolution (CAR) #1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"