A Conversation About Crypto-currencies and ICOs with Andy Bromberg

TL;DR

Andy Bromberg, president of CoinList, argues that token sales (ICOs) are currently only viable for a tiny fraction of startups—those building trustless systems where parties cannot trust a central intermediary. He contrasts crypto tokens with equity financing, warns that most ICOs are scams or poorly conceived, and predicts the future will have many tokens built on a few blockchains.

Key insights

• Tokens are scarce digital assets that represent ownership of a token network; they enable trustless systems by aligning incentives and removing central intermediaries (e.g., Filecoin uses staking and
• ICOs have raised roughly $15 billion in 2018, exceeding venture capital, but this is a concerning signal because the industry lacks norms, training data for diligence, and most ICOs will fail.
• Only a very small number of startups should issue tokens today—those where trust between counterparties is fundamentally broken and a central intermediary is unacceptable (e.g., not Airbnb, but possib