Forget bitcoin: stablecoins will change how money works

Euromoney Limited, Registered in England & Wales, Company number 15236090

4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Euromoney Limited 2024

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Forget bitcoin: stablecoins will change how money works

Even as the most infamous cryptocurrencies crash, new ones are already emerging that are designed to peg their value to fiat currencies and recover the dream of new forms of money moving on new rails to everyone’s advantage.

On Monday October 8, research firm Autonomous Next published its latest monthly figures for the volume of funds raised through initial coin offerings (ICOs), the revolutionary mechanism for founders of new crypto companies exploring ways to exchange value and ownership of assets through tokens on blockchains to build their otherworldly visions into real businesses. 

ICO funds raised by end-month ($ million) 

ICO_funds-chart-780
    
Source: Autonomous NEXT, Pitchbook Data, China Microlenders

The peak month for ICOs was January this year, when new blockchain based companies raised $2.43 billion through this method, 10 times as much as through venture equity.

By this September, however, the ICO game looked like it had entered its final inning. Firms raised just $279 million, suggesting that since the peak “monthly ICO activity is down 90%, which of course looks a lot like Ether's price performance, but with a three-month lag,” according to the mordant analysts at Autonomous Next.

So, is all this crypto-currency nonsense nearly over?

Maybe not. 

View full version of this article, published in the November issue of Euromoney magazine

If Euromoney had an actual dollar for every plan for a new stablecoin we have been told about in the past fortnight, we would be thinking of, well, maybe not retiring but certainly heading out for a very fine lunch.

Gift this article