Fetch.AI, one of the most anticipated ICOs of 2019, has successfully raised over $6 million after selling out their tokens in just 10 seconds. The token has now been distributed and will start trading on the Binance exchange from 10AM (UTC) on February 28th.
Fetch.AI is only the second ICO to launch under Binance’s Launchpad program.
Out of the 24,000 people who pre-signed the “user agreement”, only 2,758 people successfully managed to submit a buy order on the platform. This equated to a success rate of under 12% of the registered interest in the token sale.
#Binance Lists https://t.co/ugVWLPvKbN (FET) and Completes Distribution for Successful Launchpad Participantshttps://t.co/1pSDagOxEg pic.twitter.com/DMvf2F5BWi
— Binance (@binance) February 27, 2019
Fetch.AI is an ERC-20 token hosted on the Ethereum blockchain. It is developing an intelligent infrastructure that connects transportation, manufacturing, hospitality, and supply chain systems to track operational data and create predictive functionalities that can not only increase efficiency, but also exploit underutilised assets.
The project sold 69,204,152 FET, which is approximately $6 million in total equity raised. Based on the fact only 1.1 billion tokens will ever exist, it gives the project a $90 million-plus valuation (which would currently put it in the top 50 crypto projects by market cap).
Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao also tweeted out praise of the project’s successful ICO, stating: “The queue was totally packed within seconds.”
During the sale, one BNB could buy about 116 FET tokens. The exchange also said that “participants were able to purchase between 230 FET (the minimum amount eligible for purchase) and 34,602 FET (the maximum amount).”
In terms of USD, the range of investment was between $20 and $3,000 based on the equivalent price of the native Binance token.
The last project did 750%
Binance Launchpad’s previous project, BitTorrent, raised $7.1 million in 15 minutes during its crowdfunding stage. Since the token sale, the ICO has proven itself to be a very valuable investment, as it has already had a 750% increase in USD value since its Launchpad debut.
Based on information in the Fetch.AI white paper, the token allocation given to the presale was just 17% of the total tokens, with an equivalent stake to be put up for additional fundraising in the next 12 months. A majority 50% stake of tokens will also be controlled between the advisers, founders, and foundation of the project, with tokens being released in batches over the next 3 years.
Mainnet by the end of the year
The project plans to launch its native mainnet by the end of the year, which will include the initial release of the Fetch.AI network powered by the Fetch.AI native token. From the white paper, the company is hoping to launch the combined proof-of-work/proof-of-stake consensus algorithm by the end of 2019.
The majority of the money raised to date will also be spent on “working capital, salaries, and corporate/academic partnerships”. Academic partnerships include several UK universities including the University of Cambridge and the University of Warwick’s AIIN group, according to the project’s investment prospectus.
Is the investment bug back in crypto?
Considering the huge oversubscription and combined $13 million raised in two Binance Launchpad sales, it seems interest in retail investment may be slowly returning to the market. A key factor to consider with these two launches though is the fact that both have been backed and marketed heavily by the Binance exchange directly.
This is unlike the plethora of scammy ICO sites that arose during the 2017 bull run that only really included details of an ICO contract issuance address (that was used to process investments) on their homemade websites and ripped off existing white papers.
Looking at how BTT was launched and subsequently listed for trading across a range of major crypto platforms, it does show that if things are done the right way (and with the right investment and project thesis), any project adhering to the correct ‘rules and regulations’ still has a chance to participate in what could either be a final frenzy or comeback for the ‘decentralised token investment’ marketplace.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.