What is the Liquid ICO Market?
The Liquid ICO Market is a relatively new platform and service from Liquid – the large Japan based Cryptocurrency Exchange. The Liquid ICO Market is dedicated to helping teams successfully launch their Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
The Liquid ICO Market is a brilliant new end-to-end solution, which will help teams developing Blockchain projects, to conduct their ICOs better. By ‘better’, we mean in a safe, secure and transparent manner, with quick launch and easy access to participation.
Updated early 2023 – The Liquid exchange has now ceased trading. It was acquired by FTX in 2021 / 2022, and FTX then filed for Bankruptcy in late 2022.
What is the Liquid ICO Market? – Helping Blockchain projects meet regulatory requirements
The new ICO Market by Liquid offers a route to ICO launch, which fulfils the highest requirements of KYC and AML regulations (Know-Your-Customer, and Anti-Money-Laundering).
For Blockchain projects it also offers access to a pre-approved customer base, and a well-established global crypto trading platform in the form of Liquid. This significantly boosts the early reach of any ICO and provides a very swift path into secondary market trading after their first sale is complete.
What is the Liquid ICO Market? – Why do we need it? – What’s the problem being solved by the Liquid ICO Market?
ICO launches became incredibly popular throughout 2017, and the amount of money being raised by ICOs was astonishing. And again through 2018 and into early 2019 the growth and popularity of ICOs has continued to increase.
That is no bad thing in itself. ICOs are a great vehicle for raising funding for startups or passion projects, who might struggle to raise money elsewhere. ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) are one of the great products and opportunities made possible by cryptocurrency.
However ICOs have also come in for a lot of bad press recently.
Here’s what Liquid CEO and Co-founder Mike Kayamouri had to say on the matter:
“Launching an ICO in the current climate requires a lot of caution on the part of token issuers… In the last 12 months, there have been a number of serious problems with ICOs, including leaks of email addresses and customer data, website hacks, phishing attempts, fake deposit addresses, and much more. This has left token participants shaken and wary about participating in ICOs, while token issuers now have to go to great lengths in order to ensure their communities do not fall victim to scams.”
Mike Kayamouri, CEO – Liquid
With the huge upsurge in the number of ICOs over the past few years, inevitably also came the huge increase in ICO related scams and scandals.
What is the Liquid ICO Market? – Moving on from the 2017 Gold Rush of ICO’s
Throughout 2017 we witnessed a huge influx of poorly conceived and badly executed ICOs.
Unfortunately many of these ultimately proved to be of low substance or value, or even scams altogether. This was to the detriment of ICOs unfortunately, and made it easy for people to point the finger and declare ICOs a ‘dangerous’ or ‘foolish’ place to invest your money into.
It can be difficult for teams launching an ICO to gain credibility, expose their sale to a wide enough audience, gain traction and then ultimately to also conduct the sale and make the transactions. The pain points and hurdles encountered by teams launching ICOs are all well documented.
There is a clear business case then, for platforms like the ICO Market from Liquid.
It’s very likely that the market for ICOs will expand and grow again throughout 2019. But for it to scale successfully and gain the trust it needs and adoption of key investors – the industry needs to smarten up, and quick!
Platforms and services like the Liquid ICO Market are a brilliant step in the right direction towards achieving this.
Who built the Liquid ICO Market, and Who will use it?
The Liquid ICO Market was built by Quoine – a well established and successful fintech firm based in Japan and Singapore. These days, Liquid is the brand name under which they are probably better known, and Liquid is also the name of their flagship cryptocurrency exchange.
Quoine are a company on a mission. Their wider mission is to make Cryptocurrencies more accessible to the many, and not just the privileged few. ICO Market is just one of many products and services they have, which are working towards this goal.
Quoine are not your typical cryptocurrency startup. Yes, they have teams of very skilled and knowledgeable Blockchain developers and cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but they also have a few other unique assets in their armoury.
Quoine are led by a team of very successful and experienced players, all hailing from the traditional finance and banking sectors. They have built exchanges and financial products before, and know what good looks like in terms of superior financial products, services, and customer experience.
They are also well backed and funded.
The advisory board for Quoine again is full of very well respected and well-connected personalities from the international financial and banking sectors.
This wealth of knowledge, experience and connections, will all serve Quoine and the Liquid ICO Market brilliantly well as they continue to grow and scale.
What is the Liquid ICO Market? – Liquid and the QASH coin
Quoine also already have an excellent exchange platform in the shape of Liquid.
Back in November 2017 they also launched their own initial coin offering (ICO) with QASH. QASH is a very exciting cryptocurrency token, which will be used to power their upcoming Liquid platform. Later in 2019, the QASH token will the rebranded and become the “Liquid Coin” (LQD).
In terms of who will use the ICO Market – it’s ideal for any Blockchain project teams or startups wanting to raise finance through an ICO.
What is the Liquid ICO Market? – What is it, and what does it do?
The Liquid ICO Market takes care of your ICO launch, running an efficient, safe, secure and successful launch and sale for you. This lets you can focus your efforts on your business and not the stresses that come with raising funds.
This bit is key. Quoine observed from experience, that whenever a business has to raise a round of funding, that exercise of organising things, finding investors, pitching, promoting themselves and tracking everything – it takes a lot of time and effort. Time and effort which is better spent (for the team at least), on their core business. While ever a team is distracted by fund raising activities, they will loose focus and time, which would otherwise be dedicated to their main product or service, and ultimately their customers.
For most startups or Blockchain project teams, raising finance isn’t their strength – the technology or service they are trying to build is their strength. So why then, should they distract themselves by putting so much time, effort and resource into running and managing their next funding round, if there are other people who can do it better for them? It’s a simple business decision.
Most businesses do this everyday – “We can’t do X task ourselves efficiently or cost-effectively, so let’s outsource it to our trusted partners at ABC Company, they’ll do a much better job for us!”
This is exactly what ICO Mission Control is here to do.
Quoine are experts in finance. Whether that finance is cryptocurrency or the more traditional finance and banking industries where a lot of their co-founders and exec-board originally cut their teeth. Quoine know how to market a company, put them in front of the right customers / potential investors, and ensure that everything is setup correctly, meets regulations, and runs smoothly.
The Liquid ICO Market provides a platform from which to run your ICO sale. It gives access to a pre-approved pool of potential investors, all meeting KYC and AML requirements. It also offers great reach, making use of the Liquid user base, to leverage a lot of marketing potential.
In his own words, Quoine CEO and Co-founder Mike Kayamouri had this to add:
“QUOINE’s ICO Mission Control removes these pain points so token issuers can focus on more productive aspects of their work, such as product development or marketing. With the launch of ICO Mission Control, we aim to bring global standards of security and technology to provide a safe, secure ICO launch for all token issuers and participants in the new crypto economy.”
Mike Kayamouri, CEO – Liquid (formerly Quoine)
Where can I access the Liquid ICO Market?
The ICO Market is built into the Liquid trading platform – Quoine’s global cryptocurrency exchange.
You can access Liquid here *(now defunct).
When does the Liquid ICO Market go live, and when can I use it?
The Liquid ICO Market is live now and has already successfully completed a number of early ICOs.