While Kickstarter confirms to have no plans to get into the initial coin offering (ICO) business, by contrast Indiegogo recently announced a new service that will enable its community to participate in ICOs by companies that have been carefully selected and that comply with U.S. securities regulations.
Main goal of the move is to ensure that only high-quality and strictly vetted tokens and other unique digital assets are available to investors.
Following an announcement last November, 2016 when the popular crowdfunding site entered the equity crowdfunding segment, this time the platform expands the opportunity for participation in token offerings through their partnership with MicroVentures.
Indiegogo’s new ICO service also helps entrepreneurs ensure they are compliant with U.S. securities laws. All ICOs on Indiegogo will be listed as part of the company’s equity crowdfunding service, First Democracy VC – a FINRA registered funding portal which launched last year in partnership with MicroVentures – and comply with the SEC’s equity crowdfunding regulations that were passed as part of the 2012 JOBS Act.
The first ICO being offered consists of rights to purchase tokens that will be issued by the Fan-Controlled Football League (FCFL), the ultimate crowdsourced football experience where fans will choose the team names, uniforms, players and even call the plays in real-time. The FCFL team includes notable executives from the NFL, San Francisco 49ers, and cryptocurrency experts from such projects as Ethereum and Bancor. The FCFL’s ICO launches today as a pre-sale, enabling investors to get bonus tokens for early support, in advance of a final token sale by the FCFL targeted for early 2018.
ICOs are a profoundly important and exciting new means of Crowdfunding, says Slava Rubin, Indiegogo Founder and Chief Business Officer. But what has been missing to date is a platform that can make ICOs accessible to a global audience, while maintaining the strictest standards for legal compliance and quality control. This is a big step towards achieving our mission of democratizing finance around the world.
With more than $3 billion raised in 2017 alone, ICOs have become a leading source of funding for both entrepreneurs and established businesses. ICOs have also received significant interest from investors with the combined value of the world’s cryptocurrencies now surpassing $400 billion.
Together, Indiegogo and MicroVentures have facilitated nearly $2 billion in funds raised across both rewards-based and equity crowdfunding campaigns. ICO offerings will be listed on both Indiegogo and MicroVentures, with the transaction being made through the companies’ joint venture First Democracy VC or MicroVenture Marketplace Inc.
Oliver* 
You must be logged in to post a comment.