Binance set to ‘increase’ amount of projects raising capital through launchpad

Binance CFO Wei Zhou has confirmed that the exchange is looking to increase the number of projects that raise funds through the Binance launchpad.

Currently, the Binance launchpad facilitates one token sale per month, with the likes of Fetch.AI and Celer Network both raising $6 million and $4 million respectively.

However, due to an “increase in demand from both sides,” Binance will likely “increase” the amount of token offerings launched each month.

“We may increase the amount of projects being launched on the launchpad, because right now we’re seeing an increasing amount of demand on both ends,” Zhou told Coin Rivet at Paris Blockchain Week Summit.

When asked whether the emerging Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) approach will replace the traditional ICO fundraising model, Zhou replied: “Fundamentally we believe in fundraising on the blockchain. Binance itself raised $15 million in our ICO by selling the BNB token, we sold that in July 2017 and we were able to deliver and it grew beyond our expectations”.

He continued: “So, is it an evolution of the traditional ICOs? Maybe it is, but I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive. I think they will still co-exist.”

The CEO of the launchpad’s second token offering, Fetch.AI, claimed that the Binance Launchpad has “brought confidence back to the crypto space” following the gruelling bear market.

Humayun Sheikh, who spoke to Coin Rivet in an exclusive interview last month, went on to say that the new ‘due-diligence approach’ from Binance will add maturity to the ecosystem.

Wei Zhou, on the other hand, believes that IEOs will help companies organically grow as opposed to ICOs that encourage heavy initial expenditure.

“We believe there are a tonne of projects that are out there, all they need is to go through this process in terms of fundraising. The ICO thing went nuts on the other end in terms of companies raising huge amounts of money that they don’t know what to do with.” Zhou said. “I don’t think that’s healthy, you need companies to grow into size. Even for us, we’ve been around for a year and a half, but we’re not a huge organisation, we’re just a couple of hundred people. We know what a challenge it is even for us to grow and scale up.”

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