initial coin offering

noun

: the first sale of a cryptocurrency to the public conducted for the purpose of raising funds (as to support a start-up)
Coinciding with the substantial growth in cryptocurrencies, companies and individuals increasingly have been using initial coin offerings to raise capital for their businesses and projects.Jay Clayton

called also ICO

Examples of initial coin offering in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Despite these challenges, Switzerland remains a hub for innovation, with the successful launch of Ethereum’s initial coin offering (ICO) in 2014 serving as a key example of how regulatory clarity can foster growth in the industry. Tonya Evans, Forbes, 22 Sep. 2024 Polybius raised $25 million in an initial coin offering from outside investors. Amanda Gerut, Fortune, 31 May 2024 Tezos raised $230 million in a 2017 initial coin offering (ICO), and the current market capitalization for its XTZ token is $1.2 billion. Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 27 Mar. 2024 Ethereum, by contrast, conducted a crowdsale in the form of an initial coin offering in mid 2014 and reserved a portion of the 72 million ether created at launch for the founding team led by Buterin. Steven Ehrlich, Forbes, 1 Mar. 2024 Elements of this idea bear a relationship to an initially underappreciated benefit of blockchain technology—the financial innovation known as initial coin offerings. IEEE Spectrum, 1 Dec. 2023 As TechCrunch recounts, the Securities and Exchange Commission previously shut down Telegram’s TON initial coin offering, but the foundation that was subsequently founded is these days powering multiple applications on Telegram. WhatsApp Channels. David Meyer, Fortune, 13 Sep. 2023 Other winning entries or those getting honorable mentions in the Exploit competition focused on targeting initial coin offerings, a guide to creating a phishing site to steal people’s cryptocurrency account details, and a tutorial on creating a cryptocurrency from scratch. Matt Burgess, WIRED, 29 Aug. 2023 The ruling deems Ripple’s direct sales of their digital asset XRP to institutional investors to be securities offerings—which is in line with previous cases applying securities laws to initial coin offerings (ICOs) that dominated the industry in its early years. Miles Jennings, Fortune Crypto, 15 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'initial coin offering.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

2014, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of initial coin offering was in 2014

Dictionary Entries Near initial coin offering

Cite this Entry

“Initial coin offering.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/initial%20coin%20offering. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!