ICO (Initial Coin Offering), IDO (Initial DEX Offering), and IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) are crypto fundraising mechanisms analogous to IPOs. ICOs (peak 2017-2018) raised billions but most projects failed or were scams; SEC has aggressively pursued unregistered securities. IEOs vet projects through exchanges (Binance Launchpad). IDOs distribute through decentralized exchanges (Uniswap, PancakeSwap). Most retail crypto fundraising now happens via launchpads, airdrops, or token generation events tied to product launches. Buying at token launches is high-risk speculation; the median ICO/IDO loses money for participants.
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Airdrop
An airdrop is a distribution of free cryptocurrency tokens to users meeting specific criteria — often early protocol…
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Bitcoin halving is the programmed event occurring roughly every 4 years (every 210,000 blocks) that cuts the block…
Blockchain
Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers in a way that's…
Cold Storage
Cold storage refers to keeping cryptocurrency private keys completely offline, eliminating online attack vectors. Methods: hardware wallets (most…
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ICO / IDO / IEO
August 22, 2026 · Aditya Gupta
Investing
Related terms
Airdrop
An airdrop is a distribution of free cryptocurrency tokens to users meeting specific criteria — often early protocol…
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) is the first and largest cryptocurrency, created by pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 as peer-to-peer electronic…
Bitcoin Halving
Bitcoin halving is the programmed event occurring roughly every 4 years (every 210,000 blocks) that cuts the block…
Blockchain
Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers in a way that's…
Cold Storage
Cold storage refers to keeping cryptocurrency private keys completely offline, eliminating online attack vectors. Methods: hardware wallets (most…
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is digital money secured by cryptography and recorded on a blockchain. Categories: payment cryptos (Bitcoin, Litecoin), platform…
