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Motives and profiles of ICO investors

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  • Fisch, Christian
  • Masiak, Christian
  • Vismara, Silvio
  • Block, Joern

Abstract

Research on initial coin offerings (ICOs) is nascent and assesses ICOs from the perspectives of ventures and regulators. Little is known about the equally important group of investors who provide their capital to ventures in ICOs. Using a primary dataset of 517 ICO investors, we identify and categorize the motivations to invest in ICOs using factor analysis. We find that investors are driven by ideological, technological, and financial motives. Regarding the relative importance of the motives, we find that technological motives are the most important motives to ICO investors, followed by financial and ideological motives. To further profile investors, we conduct a regression analysis to distinguish investors across different motives. For example, we show significant differences across motives with regard to investors' risk perception, sources of information, and demand for strict regulation. The implications of this study for both theory and practice are considerable.

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  • Fisch, Christian & Masiak, Christian & Vismara, Silvio & Block, Joern, 2021. "Motives and profiles of ICO investors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 564-576.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:125:y:2021:i:c:p:564-576
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.036
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Muneer M. Alshater & Mayank Joshipura & Rim El Khoury & Nohade Nasrallah, 2023. "Initial Coin Offerings: a Hybrid Empirical Review," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 891-908, October.
    2. Ploypailin Kijkasiwat & Hamza Almustafa & Pongsutti Phuensane, 2023. "Initial coin offerings for business: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 1-31, January.
    3. Thewissen, James & Shrestha, Prabal & Torsin, Wouter & Pastwa, Anna M., 2022. "Unpacking the black box of ICO white papers: A topic modeling approach," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Massimo G. Colombo & Benedetta Montanaro & Silvio Vismara, 2023. "What drives the valuation of entrepreneurial ventures? A map to navigate the literature and research directions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 59-84, June.
    5. Laura Toschi & Elisa Ughetto & Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, 2023. "The identity of social impact venture capitalists: exploring social linguistic positioning and linguistic distinctiveness through text mining," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(3), pages 1249-1280, March.
    6. Bongini, Paola & Osborne, Francesco & Pedrazzoli, Alessia & Rossolini, Monica, 2022. "A topic modelling analysis of white papers in security token offerings: Which topic matters for funding?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    7. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram I. & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real estate security token offerings and the secondary market: Driven by crypto hype or fundamentals?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Ellen Loots & Diana Betzler & Trine Bille & Karol Jan Borowiecki & Boram Lee, 2022. "New forms of finance and funding in the cultural and creative industries. Introduction to the special issue," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(2), pages 205-230, June.
    9. Kreppmeier, Julia & Laschinger, Ralf & Steininger, Bertram & Dorfleitner, Gregor, 2023. "Real Estate Security Token Offerings and the Secondary Market: Driven by Crypto Hype or Fundamentals?," Working Paper Series 23/6, Royal Institute of Technology, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management & Banking and Finance.
    10. Nils Brouwer & Jakob de Haan, 2024. "What Drives Households’ Knowledge about Cryptocurrencies?," Working Papers 799, DNB.
    11. Lennart Ante & Florian Fiedler & Fred Steinmetz & Ingo Fiedler, 2023. "Profiling Turkish Cryptocurrency Owners: Payment Users, Crypto Investors and Crypto Traders," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-13, April.
    12. Yilmaz, Tuba & Sagfossen, Sofie & Velasco, Carlos, 2023. "What makes NFTs valuable to consumers? Perceived value drivers associated with NFTs liking, purchasing, and holding," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    13. Moritz T. Bruckner & Dennis M. Steininger & Jason Bennett Thatcher & Daniel J. Veit, 2023. "The effect of lockup and persuasion on online investment decisions: An experimental study in ICOs," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-25, December.
    14. Bitetto, Alessandro & Cerchiello, Paola, 2023. "Initial coin offerings and ESG: Allies or enemies?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    15. Iwanicz-Drozdowska Małgorzata & Rogowicz Karol & Smaga Paweł, 2023. "Market-moving events and their role in portfolio optimization of generations X, Y, and Z," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(4), pages 371-397, December.
    16. Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Financing sustainable entrepreneurship: ESG measurement, valuation, and performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    17. Bingyou Chen & Yu Luo & Jieni Li & Yujian Li & Ying Liu & Fan Yang & Junge Bo & Yanan Qiao, 2023. "Blockchain-based Decentralized Co-governance: Innovations and Solutions for Sustainable Crowdfunding," Papers 2306.00869, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2023.
    18. Maksim Belitski & Dmitri Boreiko, 2022. "Success factors of initial coin offerings," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(6), pages 1690-1706, December.
    19. Boukis, Achilleas, 2023. "Storytelling in initial coin offerings: Attracting investment or gaining referrals?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

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