10 Things to Look for in a Token Project - June 2018 @ Money Conference
1. How to Evaluate
a Token Project
Strategies & Tactics
Edith Yeung
June 2018
2. Edith YeungSelected by Inc's Magazine as one of the Silicon
Valleyâs investors you must know, Edith Yeung is the
head of 500 Startups Greater China and partner of
500 Mobile Collective Fund.
Edith invested in over 40 mobile, VR, AR, AI and
machine learning startups, including Hooked - #1
reading app for millennium, DayDayCook - #1 Asian
Cooking media and platform, Fleksy (acquired by
Pinterest), Human (acquired by Mapbox), AISense,
and many more. Before 500, Edith was the head of
marketing for Dolphin Browser, a Sequoia-backed
mobile browser with over 150 million installs
worldwide. Edith also worked with many Fortune 500
companies such as Siebel, AMS, AT&T Wireless and
Autodesk.
Edith Yeung | @edithyeung | edith.co
3. Disclaimers
â˘âŻThis session is purely for knowledge sharing
â˘âŻI cannot give you any investment or legal advice âş.
â˘âŻI am not a lawyer or financial advisor.
â˘âŻToken investments are extremely risky
â˘âŻPlease DO NOT invest in anything you donât truly understand and
cannot afford to lose
4. Blockchain by the Number (as of June 12 2018)
â˘âŻTotal market capitalization of crypto currencies hovers around
$301 billion.
â˘âŻBitcoin is valued at ~$117 billion. Bitcoin makes up ~39.1%
â˘âŻInitial coin offerings have exploded in popularity, closing in on
$14.6B+ in funding in 2017 alone.
â˘âŻOver 1600 Crypto tokens and 10K Crypto markets
â˘âŻIf you had invested $100 in Bitcoin in 2011 that Bitcoin would be
worth over $2.5M today.
5. ICOs Raised Over $5B across ~800 Blockchain
projects in 2017. Equity Investors Deployed $1B in 215
Deals
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/blockchain-vc-ico-funding/
9. Top 20 Most Active Crypto Funds (May 2018)
â˘âŻ500
â˘âŻAndreessen Horowitz
â˘âŻArrington XRP Capital
â˘âŻBlockTower
â˘âŻBlockchain Capital
â˘âŻDanhua Capital
â˘âŻDekrypt Capital
â˘âŻFBG Capital
â˘âŻFenbushi
â˘âŻHuobi Capital
â˘âŻ Hashed
â˘âŻ INBlockchain
â˘âŻ Kinetics Capital
â˘âŻ Metastable
â˘âŻ Multicoin
â˘âŻ Node Capital
â˘âŻ Okex Capital
â˘âŻ Pantera Capital
â˘âŻ Polychain
â˘âŻ ZhenFund
15. 10 Things to Look for in a Token Project
1.⯠Purpose - what is the purpose of the project and token. Do you really need
blockchain for this?
2.⯠Competitive Analysis - are there similar projects out there already?
3.⯠Team â is this team legit?
4.⯠Technology â does this blockchain solution make sense?
5.⯠Community â do they have strong community support?
6.⯠Token allocation â what is their token allocation?
7.⯠Milestone & Timeline â what is the project timeline?
8.⯠Financing â what is the total target raised? What is the cap? Any lockup?
9.⯠Social proof â who else are investing (investors) and involved (advisors)?
10.⯠Legal â do they have all the financial and legal documentation ready to go?
16. 1. What is the propose
of this project and
token?
17.
18.
19. Many Strange, Weird, Bullshit Tokens Out ThereâŚ
Source: Top 10 Weirdest Coinhttps://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/07/10/cryptos-in-wonderland-12-of-the-weirdest-wackiest-coins/#6eaf8e2f2a70
20. Ether is a necessary element â a fuel â for operating the distributed application platform Ethereum.
It is a form of payment made by the clients of the platform to the machines executing the requested
operations. Ether is the incentive ensuring that developers write quality applications (wasteful code
costs more), and that the network remains healthy (people are compensated for their contributed
resources).
21. Lumen is the built-in currency for the Stellar network which serves two purposes:
â˘âŻ Lumens play a small anti-spam role. Each transaction has a minor feeâ0.00001 lumensâ
associated with it. This fee prevents users with malicious intentions from flooding the
network. The Stellar network requires all accounts to hold a minimum balance of 1 lumen to
ensures that accounts are authentic and maintain a seamless flow of transactions.
â˘âŻ Lumens may facilitate multi-currency transactions and trades between pairs of currencies
between which there is not a large direct market, acting as a bridge.
26. How to Validate a Crypto Team?
Linkedin
Twitter
Slack
Reddit
Github
Website
Crunchbase
YouTube
Slideshare
Line
Telegram
Medium
Dribble
Facebook
Baidu Baike
Youku
Tudou
QQ Video
Angellist
Kakao Talk
27.
28. 4. Does this blockchain
solution make sense?
Do you really need
blockchain for this?
30. â˘âŻInner workings of the protocol and application
â˘âŻHow does the whole system works
â˘âŻHow the token will be used within the system
â˘âŻDevelopment roadmap
â˘âŻToken allocation
45. 8. Financial terms -
what is the total
target raised? What
is the cap? Any
lockup?
46.
47. 10 Financial Questions You Must Ask for All
Token Projects
1.⯠What is the total amount raise
2.⯠What is the total percentage of token are you selling
3.⯠What is the total cap
4.⯠What are the level of discounts and lockup timing
5.⯠When will Testnet and Mainnet launch?
6.⯠Did you raise equity?
7.⯠Is there geography restriction?
8.⯠What is your legal entity setup & structure?
9.⯠How are you going to spend on dollar amount raised?
10.⯠Will you keep your funds in ETH, BTC or USD?
48. 9. Who else are
investing (investors)
and involved
(advisors)?
49.
50. 10. Do they have all the
financial and legal
documentation ready to
go?
51. Super Clear with Financial & Legal stuffâŚ
â˘âŻ Currencies accepted (BTC, ETH)
â˘âŻ Clear âKnow your Customerâ (KYC) process
â˘âŻ Clear bonus program or discount program
with lock up policy
â˘âŻ Clear timeline and duration of the offering
â˘âŻ Clear geo-fencing criteria (does not accept US
investors)
â˘âŻ Minimal and maximum token investment size
â˘âŻ Will you be using a SAFT?
â˘âŻ Are you geo-fencing the offering?
â˘âŻ Are you setting up a foundation to be a
steward of the token?
52.
53. Scam Alert
â˘âŻCelebrity advisors and endorsements
â˘âŻMore advisors than team members
â˘âŻAsk you for private keys over email or Twitter
â˘âŻFake websites
54. 10 Things to Look for in a Token Project
1.⯠Purpose - what is the purpose of the project and token. Do you really need
blockchain for this?
2.⯠Competitive Analysis - are there similar projects out there already?
3.⯠Team â is this team legit?
4.⯠Technology â does this blockchain solution make sense?
5.⯠Community â do they have strong community support?
6.⯠Token allocation â what is their token allocation?
7.⯠Milestone & Timeline â what is the project timeline?
8.⯠Financing â what is the total target raised? What is the cap? Any lockup?
9.⯠Social proof â who else are investing (investors) and involved (advisors)?
10.⯠Legal â do they have all the financial and legal documentation ready to go?