Somewhat of a crypto-luminary, Jed McCaleb is well known in the industry. Not only is he the current head of Stellar (XLM) – a top ten cryptocurrency by market cap – but he formerly co-founded both the Mt.Gox exchange and Ripple Labs. As such, his opinion carries a considerable weight in the community. So when he stated; “90% of Crypto Projects are B.S.,” people listened. Speaking with Yahoo Finance, McCaleb outlined his thoughts on the industry, the market and where crypto stands in general. While he remains optimistic about the technology, he finds the proliferation of altcoins to be concerning.
In a particularly harsh rebuke, McCaleb deemed the Tronix (TRX) project ‘just garbage.’ McCaleb does believe that there is space for specialization in the blockchain industry. However, he just doesn’t believe that semi-functional altcoins are necessary. The market may be bearing out his opinion – 2018 saw a major winnowing of crypto projects due to the prolonged bear market.
The Ongoing ICO Catastrophe
Looking back at 2018, the year started with an explosion of ICO projects. In the immediate aftermath of the crypto-boom, a horde of businesses saw the opportunity to raise capital through these Initial Coin Offerings. Some ICOs, like EOS (EOS), were legitimate. Others barely represented more than the main founder’s vanity project. As investors scrambled to get in before the next big spike, anyone with charisma could draw in tens of thousands of dollars in Ethereum.
Yet, few of these projects were prepared to weather the crypto-winter. Of the 264 altcoins that ceased development in 2018, 144 had launched that year as an ICO. Due to the nature of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, there is little investors can do to recoup their losses. Worse, the Ethereum (ETH) gathered by these companies is now flooding back into the market.
Ethereum Price Suppressed by ICO Sales
Bitcoin’s value now sits at just under 20% of the coin’s ATH. While a severe drop, Ethereum saw worse – now at 7% of the all-time high reached in January of this year. Despite major technological gains and increased volume of investors, the price remains low. Analysts believe that this may be a result of ICOs finally dumping their accrued investments onto the open market.
The flood of Ethereum sales forces the price lower, preventing the cryptocurrency from recovering. While this is a temporary crisis, it may have long lasting repercussions. Other projects are nipping at Ethereum’s heels for both the number two spot by market cap and the de-facto standard blockchain for dApp development. If Ethereum can’t pull out of the ICO dump death spiral, they may find themselves eclipsed by projects like EOS.
Article By: Adam Stone
