In the rough waves of cryptocurrency investing, the greatest hype, disappointment, and opportunities can be found in the ICO market. Popularised by Ethereum in 2014, after the blockchain network raised more than $15 million from a crowdsale, ICOs have become synonymous with high risk/high return investments.
If you are keen on following cryptocurrency trends, you probably already know everything there is about ICOs. You know that you need to research a lot, learn about the ICO team and ask yourself several important questions before investing in an ICO.
If you know little about the industry, you run the risk of investing in an ICO doomed to fail. 46% of ICOs have reportedly failed in 2017, and a lot more of them don’t generate a return on investment for their investors. On the flipside, there are ICOs that have generated several thousand percent in returns for their token holders.
In this article, you will discover the ten most successful ICOs (measured by return on investment) that have taken place to date.
Nxt (600,000%)
ICO Price: $0.000017
All-Time High Price: $1.7
Current ROI: 600,000%
Ranked number 102 on Coinmarketcap, Nxt is a platform that was developed in 2013 to offer financial services over the blockchain. Over time, the network hosted an ICO and developed a decentralized apps’ development platform.
Nxt consists of a cryptocurrency, a decentralized exchange, a voting mechanism, and a messaging application.
While its ICO only raised $16,800, those who invested have seen their funds produce returns of more than 50,000 percent annually since 2013.
IOTA (225,000%)
ICO Price: $0.63
All-Time High Price: $5.23
Current ROI: 225,000%
IOTA has positioned itself as the cryptocurrency network for the Internet of Things. IOTA aims to improve your relationship with Internet-connected devices and gadgets like your refrigerator, CCTV cameras, your car, and TV by conveying communications and transactions through a distributed network.
Thanks to the growth of the IoT industry, IOTA attracted a lot of attention with its fast and secure zero-fee payments. Investors who participated in the 2015 ICO, enjoyed an ROI of more than 100 percent in just a few months before the IOTA price exploded to its current prices.
Ethereum (150,000%)
ICO Price: $0.311
All-Time High Price: $1,420
Current ROI: 150,000%
Ethereum is the largest blockchain platform for building decentralized applications. Four years ago, the platform was just an idea being promoted in the form of a crowdsale. Investors who contributed to the ICO helped the network raise $15 million and in return, their investment has generated an ROI of more than 160,000 percent.
Apart from decentralised apps, Ethereum also pioneered the idea of using smart contracts to facilitate secure and trustless transactions. With the combination of smart contracts and its decentralised apps platforms, Ethereum helped popularise ICOs and increase their adoption amongst altcoin investors.
NEO (100,000%)
ICO Price: $0.032
All-Time High Price: $180
Current ROI: 100,000%
Dubbed the Chinese Ethereum, NEO is the most successful cryptocurrency network based in China. It was launched in the same year as Ethereum but grew in popularity after gaining the support of the Chinese government and Microsoft.
Like Ethereum, NEO is a blockchain platform for building decentralised applications that are enabled by smart contracts and digital tokens.
Spectrecoin (51,000%)
ICO Price: 0.001
All-Time High Price: $5.51
Current ROI: 51,000%
Spectrecoin ranks amongst the top 10 best ICOs of all time thanks to its privacy features and staking service that allows investors to earn up to five percent in passive income annually. As a privacy coin, Spectrecoin enables users to transact anonymously at transaction speeds of just 30 seconds with very low fees.
Spectrecoin combines ring signatures with Tor integration to shield users’ transactional details. In countries where Tor is banned, the network uses a unique OBFS4 bridge support.
However, it should be noted that Spectrecoin’s market capitalisation is extremely low compared to the other tokens listed in this article. At a total market capitalisation of only $6.5 million, the success of Spectrecoin (XSPEC) must be taken with a grain of salt and it should not be mentioned in the same breath as the leading anonymous cryptocurrency projects such as ZCash, Monero, and PIVX. Furthermore, some bitcoin community members believe that XSPEC is a scam.
Stratis (40,000%)
ICO Price: $0.007
All-Time High Price: $21
Current ROI: 40,000%
Another Ethereum competitor, Stratis, differentiates itself by providing developers a toolkit that supports common programming languages such as C# and .NET framework. Ethereum, by contrast, supports a rare language known as Solidity.
Stratis’ ICO was a huge success from day one and within six months, Stratis ICO investors were counting an ROI of over 1000 percent.
Ark (12,000%)
ICO Price: $0.01
All-Time High Price: $10
Current ROI: 12,000%
Ark is a cryptocurrency network designed for efficiency. It was developed to integrate easily with other blockchain projects. Ark’s team consists of a wide pool of developers sourced from eleven countries around the world.
While the Ark price has lowered from an all-time of nearly $11 to the current $1.5, Ark held one of the most successful ICOs of all time. It’s also a popular project in general and ranks number 70 on Coinmarketcap.
Lisk (7,000%)
ICO Price: $0.076
All-Time High Price: $39
Current ROI: 7,000%
Like Ethereum and NEO, Lisk is a platform for developing decentralised apps that are backed by smart contracts. The project differentiates itself from competitors by supporting DApps that are coded using JavaScript and run on side chains for speed, security, and fast scalability.
While selling their then unknown Lisk token for $0.076 in early 2016, Lisk raised 14,000 BTC. By April the same year, Lisk was already available on the best cryptocurrency exchanges, trading at $1.33, 10,000 percent higher than its ICO price. Investors who held onto their Lisk tokens went on to earn an ROI of 190,000 percent.
Storj (7,000%)
ICO Price: $0.009
All-Time High Price: $2.43
Current ROI: 7,000%
Storj is a blockchain-based data storage network. It was developed in 2013 and held an ICO in mid-2014. The network is open-source and run by the community invested in the Storj token.
Storj has plans to launch a cloud-based decentralised storage network later in 2018.
Augur (5,000%)
ICO Price: $0.63
All-Time High Price: $110
Current ROI: 5,000%
Augur is a prediction marketplace for any event, sports activity or anything bound to happen in the future. The network is based on the blockchain and predictions are enabled by smart contracts. Payments are automated and anyone is allowed to open an event for prediction.
From politics to sports, futures to ceremonies, anyone can choose an event, buy shares to align to a certain prediction or sell shares to short the prediction and earn after the event occurs and the community ascertains that your predictions were correct.
Not All ICOs Outperform, Always “DYOR”
While not every ICO will produce a return on investment of more than 50 percent, some of the most successful ICOs of all time have recorded ROIs of above 50,000 percent. At the same time, many ICOs fail and its token generate no returns, Hence, always do your own research (“DYOR”) to ensure the viability of the investment.
Start by researching about each project and only invest if you are confident about the project’s potential success. Keep in mind that ICOs are highly risky investments and only invest an amount you would be willing to lose.
This article was contributed by Ben Mash. Ben is a cryptocurrency journalist with a penchant for the blockchain technology since 2014. He occasionally reviews altcoins and ICOs, offer investment guides and guest posts on leading websites in the industry.