Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have been ruling the world of altcoins since last few years and with the viral popularity of the digital currency people are open to exploring new ventures. That has resulted in blockchain startups raising huge funds for projects as enormous as $1.5billion. There are specific reasons behind ICOs touching the sky and you must get acquainted with the learning, which will help you to chalk-out your strategy while investing in one. Superheroes of ICO: While studying the top five ICOs in the recent past, it gets clear that blueprint of the project, the team behind, the presentation, and the list of supporter matter a lot in getting overwhelming response for funding. A. Filecoin: Astounding fund of $257million raised in just 30days, from 10th Augt 2017 to 10th Sept 2017, Filecoin became the first regulatory-compliant ICO is the US. Apart from being working on a project on decentralized cloud storage this altcoin startup had the backings of world leading Cryptocurrency Venture Capital Investors like- Union Square Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Digital Currency Group. The distinct and futuristic appeal of the project, where the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) allows safe recording and storage of data in a decentralized environment, lets unused data centres and hard drives across the globe a massive platform to come together and be available in the form of a market. a. Facts Established: Filecoin makes you contemplate on three basic critical points in an ICO- the project, the team and the supporters behind the start-up. B. EOS: This Cryptocurrency, considered to be Ethereum of China, got a fundraising of $185million. The ICO dates were from 26th May 2017 to 18th May 2018. This means that the crowdsale is practically still open. The investors in the open ICO are primarily from China and the venture is working on development of scalable smart contracts platforms. The uniqueness of the project lays in the fact that it addresses the current problems of unscalable smart contracts, like Ethereum, which at times gets congested due to adoption of blockchain network by mass. a. Implied Facts: EOS ICO got the successful Crowd funding as the venture has the potential of becoming the next and Superior Ethereum. The assignment addresses issues faced by existing altcoins. It talks about revamping the well-established prevailing technologies. C. The DAO: The start-up venture has a project where investors, without investing in various Cryptocurrencies projects, get the exposure of them. This transforming, innovative, decentralized investor-driven Venture Capital ICO was able to fundraise $152 million from 1st May 2017 to 28th May 2017. The project will invest in upcoming, talented ventures which are based on Ethereum blockchain. The setback happened when DAOs smart contracts were “hacked” and 1/3 of the invested Ether was stolen. Later, though, they were restored due to a Hard Fork in the Ethereum blockchain. a. Learnings: The long awaited demand for blockchain or Cryptocurrency investment ventures got their answers. Also, they were targeted specifically to highly active communities-Ethereum Community. The biggest learning was ICOs are risky and susceptible to cyberthefts. D. Bancor: It is a protocol which facilitates everyone to issue new altcoins Smart Tokens, which are exchangeable against reserved tokens. This blockchain-based prediction market project therefore, is a solution to issues surrounding the liquidity and price recognition for newly issued tokens. Bancor raised $153 million on 12th June 2017. The project was strongly backed by investors and VC firms like Tim Draper and Venture Capital firm- Blockchain Capital, respectively. a. Interesting Facts: Convenient futuristic trading platforms, which are in high demand getting addressed, in addition to strong backing of investors. ICO providing solutions to current liquidity issues around popular Cryptocurrencies. Just like you should not get carried away by the success or sudden spike of specific altcoin value, similarly you must take extreme caution while investing in an ICO. While going through the white paper of the ICO, evaluate the success of the project. The evaluation can be based on facts like- -Innovation, -Addressing current issues, -Futuristic Appeal, -Answer to problem faced by highly active community, -Perform complete research before investing and dont expect equal performance of tokens and ICO. The ICO might get extraordinary response but the tokens may not fetch you much. This can be observed with Tezos ICO, which happened from 1st July 2017 to 14th July 2017. Funds raised were $232million but the venture fell into a legal dispute between the founders and directors of Tezos Foundation. Keep yourself away from fraudulent ICOs. This can only be managed when you stay active in the blockchain ecosystem. The absence of any rules, authorities and governing body makes ICOs open to fake projects. You can remain active on subjects associated to the Crypto-world by getting yourself enrolled in various magazines, newsletters and Journals.