Initial coin offerings : tokens as innovative financial assets

In this chapter we describe the phenomenon of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), i.e. unregulated offerings of digital tokens, built on the innovative blockchain technology, as to provide a means to collect finance for a project on the Internet, disintermediating any external platform, payment agent or professional investor. ICO tokens allow the access to platform services, may serve as cryptocurrencies, or grant profit rights; they are traded on electronic exchanges and represent a new financial asset. We highlight the issues emerged with respect to information asymmetries and moral hazard and we review the nascent empirical literature exploring the ICO token market.