IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/qualqt/v58y2024i2d10.1007_s11135-023-01701-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Initial coin offerings: current trends and future research directions

Author

Listed:
  • Sangeeta Wats

    (Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), NMIMS Deemed to be University)

  • Mahesh Joshi

    (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), RMIT University)

  • Simarjeet Singh

    (Great Lakes Institute of Management)

Abstract

Initial coin offerings (ICO) have emerged as a niche financing arrangement, primarily used by budding tech-savvy entrepreneurs to fund their projects through token sales. This paper explores the various research dimensions on this complex means of raising funds, primarily its relevance, grey aspects, and offers future research directions. The theoretical underpinnings of various scholarly articles in reputed journals are reviewed to gauge the continuously expanding ICO domain. To recognize key aspects of ICO, this study relies on a three-tier analysis comprising of systematic literature review, bibliometric analysis and content analysis. The study identifies five distinct clusters: dynamics influencing ICO, drivers facilitating ICO investments, empirical validation of ICO success factors, adopting best practices for efficacious ICO and emerging perspectives on ICO. Based on these clusters, future research directions are offered. This study is a ready reckoner for scholars, aspiring to identify the evolution of ICO, current dynamics, and future research directions. This study not only offers existing and prospective entrepreneurs into efficiently designing and deploying ICO, but also highlights determinants that should be considered by investors while investing in ICO. Further, the study also illustrates several key challenges that requires adequate global regulation to ensure its sustainability and advancement.

Suggested Citation

  • Sangeeta Wats & Mahesh Joshi & Simarjeet Singh, 2024. "Initial coin offerings: current trends and future research directions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 1361-1387, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:58:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11135-023-01701-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s11135-023-01701-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-023-01701-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11135-023-01701-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benedetti, Hugo & Kostovetsky, Leonard, 2021. "Digital Tulips? Returns to investors in initial coin offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. repec:eme:mfppss:mf-06-2018-0281 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. Tinghua Duan, 2019. "Initial Coin Offerings and Entrepreneurial Finance: The Role of Founders’ Characteristics," Post-Print hal-02512437, HAL.
    4. Stefan Tönnissen & Jan Heinrich Beinke & Frank Teuteberg, 2020. "Understanding token-based ecosystems – a taxonomy of blockchain-based business models of start-ups," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(2), pages 307-323, June.
    5. Simon Albrecht & Bernhard Lutz & Dirk Neumann, 2020. "The behavior of blockchain ventures on Twitter as a determinant for funding success," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 30(2), pages 241-257, June.
    6. Adhami, Saman & Giudici, Giancarlo & Martinazzi, Stefano, 2018. "Why do businesses go crypto? An empirical analysis of initial coin offerings," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 64-75.
    7. 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.
    8. Xu, Xinhan & Chen, Xiangfeng & Jia, Fu & Brown, Steve & Gong, Yu & Xu, Yifan, 2018. "Supply chain finance: A systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 160-173.
    9. Samieifar, Shadi & Baur, Dirk G., 2021. "Read me if you can! An analysis of ICO white papers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    10. Fisch, Christian & Momtaz, Paul P., 2020. "Institutional investors and post-ICO performance: an empirical analysis of investor returns in initial coin offerings (ICOs)," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    11. Simona Ibba & Andrea Pinna & Maria Ilaria Lunesu & Michele Marchesi & Roberto Tonelli, 2018. "Initial Coin Offerings and Agile Practices," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, October.
    12. LORNE Frank & LI Tianze, 2021. "FINANCIAL BUBBLES FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: IMPLICATIONS REGARDING ICOs," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 16(1), pages 109-119, April.
    13. Sijia Zhang & Andros Gregoriou, 2020. "The price and liquidity impact of China forbidding initial coin offerings on the cryptocurrency market," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(20), pages 1695-1698, November.
    14. Bellavitis, Cristiano & Fisch, Christian & Wiklund, Johan, 2021. "A comprehensive review of the global development of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and their regulation," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 15(C).
    15. Fisch, Christian, 2019. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) to finance new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 1-22.
    16. Raffaella Barone & Donato Masciandaro, 2019. "Cryptocurrency or usury? Crime and alternative money laundering techniques," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 233-254, April.
    17. Siachou, Evangelia & Vrontis, Demetris & Trichina, Eleni, 2021. "Can traditional organizations be digitally transformed by themselves? The moderating role of absorptive capacity and strategic interdependence," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 408-421.
    18. Nees Jan Eck & Ludo Waltman, 2010. "Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 84(2), pages 523-538, August.
    19. Giancarlo Giudici & Saman Adhami, 2019. "The impact of governance signals on ICO fundraising success," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(2), pages 283-312, June.
    20. Cristiano Bellavitis & Igor Filatotchev & Dzidziso Samuel Kamuriwo & Tom Vanacker, 2017. "Entrepreneurial finance: new frontiers of research and practice," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1-2), pages 1-16, January.
    21. Cochrane, John H., 2005. "The risk and return of venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 3-52, January.
    22. Zhang, Shuyu & Aerts, Walter & Lu, Liping & Pan, Huifeng, 2019. "Readability of token whitepaper and ICO first-day return," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 58-61.
    23. Shuyu Zhang & Dunli Zhang & Jianming Zheng & Walter Aerts, 2021. "Does policy uncertainty of the blockchain dampen ICO markets?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1625-1637, April.
    24. Perez, Charles & Sokolova, Karina & Konate, Malick, 2020. "Digital social capital and performance of initial coin offerings," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    25. Sabrina T Howell & Marina Niessner & David Yermack & Jiang Wei, 2020. "Initial Coin Offerings: Financing Growth with Cryptocurrency Token Sales," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(9), pages 3925-3974.
    26. Joern H. Block & Alexander Groh & Lars Hornuf & Tom Vanacker & Silvio Vismara, 2021. "The entrepreneurial finance markets of the future: a comparison of crowdfunding and initial coin offerings," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 865-882, August.
    27. Albert S. Hu & Christine A. Parlour & Uday Rajan, 2019. "Cryptocurrencies: Stylized facts on a new investible instrument," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 1049-1068, December.
    28. Winifred Huang & Michele Meoli & Silvio Vismara, 2020. "The geography of initial coin offerings," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 77-102, June.
    29. Simarjeet Singh & Nidhi Walia, 2022. "Momentum investing: a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(1), pages 87-113, February.
    30. Sharma, Zenu & Zhu, Yun, 2020. "Platform building in initial coin offering market: Empirical evidence," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    31. Irene Wormell, 2000. "Bibliometric Analysis of the Welfare Topic," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 48(2), pages 203-236, September.
    32. Giudici, Giancarlo & Giuffra Moncayo, Giancarlo & Martinazzi, Stefano, 2020. "The role of advisors’ centrality in the success of Initial Coin Offerings," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    33. Peter Roosenboom & Tom van der Kolk & Abe de Jong, 2020. "What determines success in initial coin offerings?," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 161-183, June.
    34. Tandon, Anushree & Kaur, Puneet & Mäntymäki, Matti & Dhir, Amandeep, 2021. "Blockchain applications in management: A bibliometric analysis and literature review," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    35. Lan Di & George X. Yuan & Tu Zeng, 2021. "The consensus equilibria of mining gap games related to the stability of Blockchain Ecosystems," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4-5), pages 419-440, March.
    36. Alfreda Šapkauskienė & Alfreda Šapkauskienė & Ingrida Višinskaitė, 2020. "Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): benefits, risks and success measures," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 7(3), pages 1472-1483, March.
    37. Magnus Schückes & Tobias Gutmann, 2021. "Why do startups pursue initial coin offerings (ICOs)? The role of economic drivers and social identity on funding choice," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 1027-1052, August.
    38. An, Jiafu & Duan, Tinghua & Hou, Wenxuan & Liu, Xianda, 2021. "Cyber risks and initial coin offerings: Evidence from the world," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).
    39. Christian Masiak & Joern H. Block & Tobias Masiak & Matthias Neuenkirch & Katja N. Pielen, 2020. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs): market cycles and relationship with bitcoin and ether," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1113-1130, December.
    40. Saman Adhami & Dominique Guegan, 2020. "Crypto assets: the role of ICO tokens within a well-diversified portfolio," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 47(2), pages 219-241, June.
    41. Verma, Surabhi & Gustafsson, Anders, 2020. "Investigating the emerging COVID-19 research trends in the field of business and management: A bibliometric analysis approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 253-261.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    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. Sun, Yan & Yang, Sung-Byung, 2024. "Are ICOs the best? A comparison of different fundraising models in blockchain-based fundraising," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Cumming, Douglas & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Momtaz, Paul P. & Schermann, Niclas, 2025. "Financing decentralized digital platform growth: The role of crypto funds in blockchain-based startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1).
    4. Chitsazan, Hasti & Bagheri, Afsaneh & Tajeddin, Mahdi, 2022. "Initial coin offerings (ICOs) success: Conceptualization, theories and systematic analysis of empirical studies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Paul P. Momtaz, 2024. "Decentralized finance (DeFi) markets for startups: search frictions, intermediation, and the efficiency of the ICO market," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1415-1447, December.
    6. Kolbe, Maura & Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Why do video pitches matter in crowdfunding?," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. 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).
    8. Johannes Fuchs & Paul P. Momtaz, 2025. "Token governance in initial coin offerings: Implications of token retention and resale restrictions for ICO success," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(3), pages 1321-1359, March.
    9. Wang, Tong & Zhao, Sheng & Zhou, Mengqiu, 2022. "Does soft information in expert ratings curb information asymmetry? Evidence from crowdfunding and early transaction phases of Initial Coin offerings," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Pierluigi Martino & Tom Vanacker & Igor Filatotchev & Cristiano Bellavitis, 2025. "(De)centralized governance and the value of platform-based new ventures: The moderating role of teams and transparency," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 64(4), pages 1763-1790, April.
    11. Efim Zhitomirskiy & Stefan Schmid & Martin Walther, 2023. "Tokenizing assets with dividend payouts—a legally compliant and flexible design," Digital Finance, Springer, vol. 5(3), pages 563-580, December.
    12. Patel, Ritesh & Migliavacca, Milena & Oriani, Marco E., 2022. "Blockchain in banking and finance: A bibliometric review," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    13. Alexander Guzmán & Cristian Pinto-Gutiérrez & María-Andrea Trujillo, 2021. "Signaling Value through Gender Diversity: Evidence from Initial Coin Offerings," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, January.
    14. Meoli, Michele & Vismara, Silvio, 2022. "Machine-learning forecasting of successful ICOs," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    15. Johannes Gartner & Andrea Moro, 2025. "Followers beat content: social media and the managers in initial coin offerings (ICOs)," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1229-1256, April.
    16. de Andrés, Pablo & Arroyo, David & Correia, Ricardo & Rezola, Alvaro, 2022. "Challenges of the market for initial coin offerings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Feilian Xia & James Thewissen & Winifred Huang & Shuo Yan, 2024. "Founder-CEO Extraversion and Sustainability Orientation in Initial Coin Offerings," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(4), pages 941-980, July.
    18. Mansouri, Sasan & Momtaz, Paul P., 2022. "Financing sustainable entrepreneurship: ESG measurement, valuation, and performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(6).
    19. 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).
    20. Xia, Feilian & Thewissen, James & Shrestha, Prabal & Yan, Shuo, 2024. "The power of a name: Exploring the relationship between ICO name fluency and investor decision making," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Initial coin offerings; ICO; Entrepreneurial finance; Blockchain; Tokens; Token sales;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G15 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - International Financial Markets
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:58:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s11135-023-01701-z. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.