Autonomous NEXT: Here are the possible factors behind the ICO market's implosion

A report out Monday by Autonomous NEXT showed that monthly ICO activity is down 90% from January’s highs. The report identifies three potential causes behind the steep decline. The first is that investors are no longer looking to invest in utility tokens but rather want to put their money in equity. The second narrative is Security Token Offerings (STOs), which Autonomous says won’t hit the market for at least another half a year “due to regulatory indigestion”. And the third is the possibility that the collapse in Chinese P2P lending in 2015 caused the investors to shift to investing their capital in ICOs. A report by Diar last week found that throughout the three quarters of 2018, blockchain and crypto companies have raised nearly $3.9 billion through traditional VC, which is 280% more than in 2017. Diar also found that out of the ten largest VC raises in 2018, only one of the companies has a native utility token, echoing Autonomous’ first claim. (Source: Autonomous NEXT, Diar)