A blockchain-based smart contracts platform is in the process of running its ICO, which already brought the company a record amount of funding.
Tezos has raised over $200 million in the first four days of its initial coin offering (ICO), thus becoming the largest token sale ever. At press time on Tuesday, contributions had reached 49,851 BTC ($130.6 mln) and 255,862 ETH ($71 mln).
Recently, blockchain startup Block.One hit a record funding, raising around $185 million in the first five days of the crowdsale. Prior to that, another startup, called Bancor, netted nearly $150 million in contributions during the first three hours of its ICO.
The sale of TEZ tokens will last for the next eight days until July 12. Unlike traditional crowdsales, Tezos ICO is not capped by a set number of tokens, what is likely to drive a widespread distribution of tokens. Initially the token sale was planned to start in the middle of May, but at the last minute was postponed to June.
Earlier, Tezos received investment from an American venture capitalist Tim Draper, what attracted additional interest to the startup. Draper is also going to invest in the US-based Dynamic Ledger Solutions Inc, the developer of Tezos. Still, the details of the investment were not disclosed.
Draper first unveiled his desire to take part in Tezos’ token offering in May, thus becoming the first prominent VC investor to participate in an ICO. Some industry players are still concerned about the possible risks of token sales and the lack of regulatory control.
Draper believes that by investing in the startup he will set an example for other investors to embrace this new type of funding. Another well-known American entrepreneur, Mark Cuban, unveiled that he is going to participate in his first ICO.
Established by a husband and wife team, Tezos is an independent smart contract system built as an alternative to Ethereum. The platform has been under development over the last three years.
Arthur Breitman and Kathleen Breitman used their extensive experience to develop the new blockchain solution. Arthur Breitman previously worked at the high frequency trading desk at Goldman Sachs and served as an options market maker at Morgan Stanley. Meanwhile, Kathleen Breitman is a former management associate at Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund. The startup is focused on transparency, security and governance by consensus as fundamental design goals.
More and more companies are now turning to ICOs as a way to raise capital for their further development. Over the last few months, there have been a number of crowdsales launched by blockchain startups and more sales are expected in the upcoming months.
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