On July 14, 2017, Tezos foundation completed its fundraising program for the then highly anticipated Tezos blockchain. Raking in over 65,000 (sixty-five thousand) Bitcoin and 361,000 Ethereum coins. Tezos’ $230 million ICO sent shivers down the spines of cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the world outside the crypto space. Founded by the Breitman couples, the Tezos project raised over ten times their initial estimate. Following bitcoin and ethereum price appreciation, tokens realized from this ICO would be worth almost half a billion dollars before the Tezos foundation could spend a dime from it! Such financial success doesn’t come without its own issues; Tezos foundation and the project founders were soon involved in a series of lawsuits and internal issues.
Filecoin (FIL) raised over $250 million out of an initially planned $40 million token sale two months later. But Tezos’ ICO heroics remains one of the most notable cryptocurrency fundraising programs in the history of this activity. While most projects struggle to realize their fundraising projection, Tezos smashed past its estimated revenue…ten times!
Taking the preceding run of events into account here’s why Tezos pulled off the greatest ICO in the history of cryptocurrency.
Interesting fundamentals
Whether you think Tezos deserved its half-a-billion-dollar ICO revenue or not; one thing is certain; it was by far the most prospective cryptocurrency project at that time. With Tezos, the Breitman couple had proposed ground-breaking protocols which solved the biggest blockchain issues at that time.
Ethereum and bitcoin had already gained their ground in the crypto space at this time and occupy the second and first positions in the charts, respectively. Worth billions and hundreds of millions of dollars in total market capitalization respectively, bitcoin and ethereum were already riddled with their shortcomings. The cryptocurrency community has realized that they are far from perfect.
Bitcoin suffered severe governance issues and different members of the bitcoin community were quick to create their own forks of the original bitcoin blockchain. Each fork was very similar to the parent blockchain with only little differences. An issue that has continued to date. The proliferation of bitcoin forks created a huge divide in the bitcoin community and there was no end in sight for this issue. The cryptocurrency community was in dire need of a better alternative.
Ethereum, the most popular smart contract platform at that time was notably slow. Paying fees isn’t really something the cryptocurrency ever loved to do.
Kathleen Breitman and her spouse presented a solution to these problems in one word – Tezos. Tezos proposed a proof-of-stake blockchain that features an on-chain governance model. The proposed model allows the protocol amends itself when upgrade proposals receive a favorable vote from the general community. This governance model solves the issue of rampant and untamed forks which rocked the bitcoin community. The proof of stake consensus algorithm allows cheaper transaction fees.
Like anyone in search of a savior, the cryptocurrency community was quick to levitate towards the Tezos project. “It presented feasible solutions to their biggest issues”. It was the ‘future’.
A Lustrous public ICO
A good marketer could sell any product with huge gains. In addition to the fact that Tezos’ fundamentals were already enough to attract an investor, the public token sale was conducted plausibly. Termed a ‘donation’, participation in the Tezos ICO was a non-profit-oriented activity. Investors were warned off high financial expectations from the project and in a disclaimer, the project’s founders and ICO facilitators freed the future developers of pressure from investors.
However, for a project as shiny as Tezos, anyone could guess that there’d be some good gains sometime in the future. These warnings and disclaimers were not enough to shake off the already enthusiastic cryptocurrency community.
Tezos’ token sale featured a bitcoin block time-dependent bonus. An initial 20% bonus reduces by 5% for every 400 Bitcoin blocks. For instance, an investor donating during the first 400 blocks (0-399) from the start of the ICO gets a 20% bonus; another investor donating after the first 400 blocks (400-799) gets a 15% bonus. Good snack, huh? I’d think so too. Great marketing to be frank. This worked wonders for the ICO team. A greater number jumped on the 20% and traded in their bitcoin for Tezzies. Tezos ended up raising over $230 million selling each token at an average of $0.47.
Appropriate timing.
2017 was notably a period of boom in the crypto space. Interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology from the rest of the world grew the most during this time. It was also a time when the cryptocurrency community was in dilemma over the future of its two biggest blockchains. The timing was right; high interest from the world outside, a hopeful and expectant cryptocurrency community, and now a promising Tezos blockchain. A faster and cheaper smart contract platform and a governance model will tame rampant forks. A match made in heaven! Of course! It was a time when throwing Bitcoin and Ethereum into new projects wasn’t an issue for the holders. Tezos and its founders stirred into the space at just the right time.
Fear of missing out.
Ethereum sold each ether token for about $0.4 during its ICO. By 2017, each of these tokens would be worth over $250. This represents over 600x gains. Investors predicted a repeat of such an event and were in search of new projects with such potential as ethereum. Tezos presented solutions to ethereum and bitcoin’s issues while building a blockchain that combines the utility of bitcoin and ethereum. An investor would estimate this project to be worth just as much as ethereum and bitcoin put together; at least.
Just like Ethereum’s ICO, each Tezzies was sold below $0.5. Investors not only envisioned a repeat, they expected something way better. Tezos looked as shiny as bitcoin and Ethereum combined. The ICO presented an opportunity to get some tezzies at $0.47 each; yes, a 20% bonus if you throw your bitcoin or ethereum in before the first 400 bitcoin block. The rush was justifiable, I’d be afraid to miss out on this too.
Media hype and propaganda.
‘A new blockchain better than bitcoin and Ethereum combined’. Tezos was really up for the hype. The Breitman couples were also some shiny characters to lead such a project. It was easy to make a compelling story about this project. It was easy to make a reader spend more minutes reading about Tezos, and what the future holds for it. The media jumped on it and Tezos’ ICO was well talked about. While Tezos is unarguably a great project, the rampant tales also contributed to its outrageous success.
Tezos’ unarguably had a ride with that ICO! Well-deserved stuff, despite the controversies that followed this financial empowerment, the developers have continued to deliver great products to the general crypto space. Tezos realized most of its ICO proposals, despite being valued way below ethereum or bitcoin, it hasn’t failed to deliver strong technologies.
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