Filecoin’s ICO Shatters Records by Raising Nearly $200 Million in Just 1 Hour

Amid news of the continued meteoric rise of the world's first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, another initial coin offering (ICO) is shattering records in its earliest stages of investment. The blockchain data storage network Filecoin began its first public offering today. Despite technical issues, it has garnered an estimated $200 million from investors. In fact, sales came to a halt just about an hour after beginning.

 

The sale sets a new record for investor interest in an ICO. To put this massive achievement in perspective, the beginning of July saw the launch of Block.one's EOS tokens, which set a record at $185 million raised in 5 days. A few weeks later, Tezos Blockchain Project raised $232 million in less than two weeks. Filecoin was able to nearly match this record in less time than it might take to watch an episode of Game of Thrones.

CoinDesk's ICO Tracker shows that with a small push, Filecoin could nudge the amount of money invested in ICOs past the $2 billion mark, which is indicative of how decentralized currency has become a major industry. The entities behind these ICOs have a lot to prove in the near future if they are going to keep their offerings competitive with the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut that is Bitcoin.

Disclosure: Several members of the Futurism team, including the editors of this piece, are personal investors in cryptocurrency markets. Their personal investment perspectives have no impact on editorial content.