Report: ICO Funding Surged 1228% in 2017

Everybody knows that ICO funding skyrocketed this year, but by how much did it, really?

Hacked, citing a recent paper from Funderbeam, reports that token sales surged from relatively tiny $228 million in 2016 to a solid $2.8 billion in 2017 – an over 1,200% climb – with the average round reaching $19 million.

Meanwhile, the total number of ICOs spiked from 36 to a total of 149. As Hacked points out, that’s still a fraction of the 4,782 traditional funding rounds done by startups this year, but nevertheless, that’s a respectable bump for something that regulators are either wary of or have outright banned.

Breaking down the numbers even further, North America purportedly produced $1.2 billion in ICO funding, handily giving it the top spot, while Europe and Asia generated $637 million and $338 million, respectively. Things look a little different when considering ICO size, though. Token sales in North America averaged at $31.5 million with Asia trailing just slightly with an average of $30.7 million. European ICOs meanwhile were miniscule in comparison, averaging in at roughly $16.7 million. That said, token offerings make up nearly 4% of all European funding, in the U.S., it constitutes just 2% while in Asia it’s even less at 1.02%.

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