Ethereum raised $18m at the start, now worth around $750m https://ethereum.org/ DAOhub just raised $14m in 48 hours. https://daohub.org/ Digix "Ethereum pegged to gold" also had a crowdsale in top 20 raised $5m https://digix.io/#/ These above are all ethereum related. Bitcoin has had about $1b in VC money flow into that space, with the blocksize debacle I expect Ethereum to catch on more now as it can do many more things than bitcoin can. They aren't necessarily competitors but both have different purposes, can compliment each other with side chains, relays ect. Interesting times ahead for blockchain tech. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_funded_crowdfunding_projects
Can you explain how crowd-funding works? Do investors get shares in corporation? Is this a way of skipping IPO's and getting in on the ground floor? Edit: be nice to set-up some kind of crowd-funding for pre-IPO companies. Skip the middle-man. I know the investment banks make huge money on IPO's. So how do we skip that? Get in before an IPO?
Each project has different parameters but it is basically like a kick starter funding, it's all crowdsourced ,decentralised , no middleman taking his piece. The downside of this is you'll see a lot of projects flop and possible some scams coming along so do due diligence of course. It's the wild west free market in the crypto space.
In the case of ethereum, it is a big world computer that is decentralised and can automatically execute smart contracts. The network uses ether as payment for whatever projects or contracts built on the ethereum network. So the crowdsale was people buying ether which is essentially the gas for the network. It varies based on the project. I like the augur.net idea as well . it is like intrade except decentralised and can't be shut down by any government or one entity. The crowd funding was to buy the tokens used on the platform if I understand right. Still in early stages but would really like to see this stuff take off, especially Augur.net as you can create or bet on any prediction market you want. www.augur.net
To add... 5 Ethereum product are in the top 10 Marketcap (of cryptocurrencies) which means... Ethereum is quickly gaining on bitcoin and taking/expanding the market share for crypto. #2 Ethereum - $750M #5 Augur - $79,5M #6 MakerDAO - $44M #8 TheDAO - $16M #9 DigixDAO - $13M *DAO=Decentralized Autonomous Organization If you have bitcoin and would like to diversify into ETH the quickest way is through shapeshift.io or just buy with USD on Kraken exchange. It's the wild west still so do your DD but there are some good opportunities in this space IMO.
THEDAO is on it's 3rd or 4th day and is at $19.5m now for their crowdfunding round which is still ongoing, They should be in the Top 3 of all crowdfunded projects. That is pretty big, I'd think VC and Fintech guys are watching this with surprise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest_funded_crowdfunding_projects
TheDAO now crowdfunded at over $75m Almost 10% of the ETH supply went into this. Pretty nuts. Will be interesting to see what is built off it.
What is a DAO? A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), fully automated business entity (FAB), or distributed autonomous corporation/company (DAC) can be thought of as a self-governing organization under the control of an incorruptible set of business rules. These rules are typically implemented as publicly auditable open-source software distributed across the computers of their stakeholders. A human becomes a stakeholder by buying digital tokens, similar to shares in a company, or by being paid in those tokens to provide services for the company. These tokens may entitle its owner to a share of the profits of the DAO, participation in its growth, and/or a say in how it is run. https://forum.daohub.org/t/faqs-about-the-d-q-a/37