You could turn $100 into a fortune!

That is why ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) boomed last year. New projects launched their own digital tokens. Everyone wanted to get in on the bottom of a skyrocketing cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin easily fueled that desire. If you put $100 into Bitcoin in January of 2012, you would be sitting on over 200 grand now, assuming you didn't get excited and sell when Bitcoin reached $1000, or $5000, or $10,000…

Cryptocurrencies are exciting. They have the potential to upend the entire financial sector. The blockchain and other technology underlying tokens will truly prove revolutionary. But that doesn't mean you should throw caution to the wind and empty your savings account in favor of cryptocurrency speculations.

Accounting firm Ernst and Young released a report in December all about ICOs.

Last June 90% of ICOs reached their funding goals. But by the time November rolled around, fewer than 25% of ICOs hit their target.

The reason? The cryptomarket was flooded with crap. Everyone with an idea and some buzzwords threw together a half-assed whitepaper, a document that explains the technology and purpose of a cryptocurrency.

Ernst and Young found that a majority of whitepapers included basic errors and contradictions. Many lacked clear explanations about the project or even the purpose of the token.

White papers contain many clichés that attract inexperienced investors, with no reasonable justification for blockchain use…

?Next-generation platform
? First project to unlock multibillion market of < … >
? Decentralized network that puts users in control/the driver's seat
? We are creating a community/ecosystem/economy
? No corrupted central authority
? Creating a Web3
? Most undervalued token

Most ICOs were just selling an idea. They had no business yet, and the capabilities of the founders were generally untested.

84% of projects launching Initial Coin Offerings analyzed by Ernst and Young were in the idea stage. 11% had prototypes, and just 5% were in operation.

32% of projects did not even specify when their project would go live.