The announcement by Coinbase that it has acquired Echo for $375 million marks a potentially pivotal moment in the evolution of how crypto-projects raise capital. While the heyday of ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) may be long gone, this move suggests a re-thinking of on-chain fundraising and may open the door to a more open, regulated “crowd” stage of token sales.
The Deal and Its Significance
On 21 October, Coinbase announced the purchase of Echo, a crowd-funding platform founded by investor Cobie. Echo’s experience includes handling over $200 million in funding through more than 300 transactions via its tools (“Echo Private”, “Sonar”).
The significance lies in several facets:
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Echo’s tools enable public token sales on-chain, rather than traditional venture capital funnels, and without reliance on centralized launching pads.
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Coinbase plans to integrate Echo’s infrastructure into its exchange and the Base layer-2 network, thereby embedding token fundraising, token trading and possibly tokenised real-world assets (RWA) under one roof.
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This approach opens the possibility of allowing “retail” or general community participation in early-stage token capital raises, rather than reserving them for institutional investors alone.
Does This Mean the ICO Boom Is Back?
Not exactly — but the fundamentals are shifting. The original ICO mania around 2017-2018 saw startups raising perhaps $20 billion globally before regulatory burdens and speculative excess brought things crashing down.
Today’s environment is materially different:
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Regulatory frameworks are more developed (e.g., in the US, Europe under MiCA, Singapore).
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Token-sale models are more structured, with know‐your‐customer (KYC) checks, regulated launchpads and oversight.
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The expected returns are lower: average token run-ups now are far more modest compared to the 100× returns seen in the early ICO days. For example, a Korean launchpad (“Buidlpad”) delivered <5× in recent cases.
Hence, while the concept of “crowd token sales” might be returning, the speculative, wild “ICO mania” is unlikely to replicate exactly.
What Could Change — And What Remains a Challenge
What could change:
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Increased democratization of early‐stage crypto project investing: With Coinbase’s retail user base (~110 million verified users) being able to access token sales, access expands beyond VCs.
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Greater transparency and compliance: On-chain capital raises with public cap tables, smart-contract automation and regulated frameworks may improve trust.
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Integration of real-world asset tokenization and securities‐type tokens: The acquisition signals that Coinbase is thinking beyond simple crypto tokens, toward tokenized securities or real-world assets (RWA).
What remains challenging:
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Quality control and investor protection: Opening the floodgates to retail may increase exposure to low-quality or fraudulent projects. As noted, balancing inclusivity and selectivity is hard.
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Regulatory risk and enforcement: Even with better rules, many jurisdictions still view token sales as securities offerings, and global regulatory alignment is far from complete.
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Market realism: Investors and projects may need to temper expectations—massive return multiples may not be realistic in this more mature phase.
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Trust and education: For retail investors participating early, understanding the risks of project failure, token illiquidity or regulatory changes is critical.
Why This Matters for the Crypto Ecosystem
The move by Coinbase and Echo suggests that token fundraising is evolving from opaque VC rounds and exclusive launchpad deals into a more open, regulated “crowd” model. This could help broaden participation, push more responsible project governance, and integrate token ecosystems with mainstream financial markets.
From a thematic perspective, it hints at the following trends:
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Web3 infrastructure moving closer to mainstream finance.
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Tokenisation of assets gaining more concrete institutional support.
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A re-emergence of public token sales, but under stricter oversight and lower speculation.
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A shift from purely speculative hype toward regulated growth, transparency and utility.
Here is a detailed comparative overview of token-sale trends between the boom of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) era (2017-18) and the more recent landscape (2024-25).
✅ 2017-18 ICO Boom: Key Data and Characteristics
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Between early 2017 and October 2018, ICOs globally raised about US$20 billion — roughly US$7 billion in 2017 and US$12 billion in 2018.
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One data point shows that in 2017 one estimate placed ICO raises at ~US$4.9 billion, and by 2018 that figure had jumped to ~US$33.4 billion in some datasets.
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Research suggests this phase peaked in 2018 and then retracted: > “the ICO sector … reached its peak in 2018 and regressed in 2019.”
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Many of these ICOs were speculative; one study reported that around 78 % of the ICOs were “scams” and only ~15 % were actively traded.
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Characteristics:
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Relatively low regulatory oversight (especially compared to today)
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Enthusiasm for new projects, many driven by hype rather than deep fundamentals
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Large number of new tokens, many inexperienced teams, high failure rate
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Tight coupling with speculative mania and the broader crypto bull market
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🔍 2024-25 Token Sale / Presale Landscape: Key Data and Changing Features
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In 2025 there is growing attention to token “presales” and smaller scale token-sales rather than massive open public ICOs. For example: one article lists a 2025 presale that raised over US$6.2 million from ~6,600 early participants.
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Many recent analyses of the crypto market emphasise maturation: institutional involvement, more regulation, tokenisation of real-world assets (RWA) and greater infrastructure.
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The token-sale model is evolving: e.g., there is guidance on the “four stages of a token sale for modern businesses” (design, compliance, execution, governance) indicating more formal structure needed.
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Although I did not locate a widely-quoted total aggregated global “funds raised via token sales in 2024/25” number comparable to the ICO era, the trend appears to be lower total volume but higher regulatory/formal structure and more niche/targeted fundraising.
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Other features: many token sales now require KYC/AML, often are via “launchpads” or presales rather than wide-open public ICOs, and many focus on utility or protocol governance rather than purely speculative token flips.
📊 Comparison: Then vs Now
| Feature | 2017-18 ICO Boom | 2024-25 Token Sale Landscape |
|---|---|---|
| Total scale | Very large, billions of USD annually, many projects. | More modest in typical individual size; global total less clear, possibly smaller scale but more targeted. |
| Regulation | Minimal to moderate; many regulatory grey-areas | Increased regulatory awareness: compliance, KYC, governance frameworks more common. |
| Investor profile | Heavy retail speculation, many “get rich quick” mentality | More mixed: retail + institutional, more emphasis on protocol value and utility. |
| Success / failure rate | High failure, many scams: ~78% were alleged scams in one study. | Still risky, but projects tend to have more formal structure; risk remains high but investor due diligence increasingly expected. |
| Hype vs fundamentals | Very high hype, often less demonstrable fundamentals | Hype remains (especially in presales & niche sectors) but there’s growing emphasis on utility, tokenomics, governance. |
| Typical fundraising model | Broad open ICOs, sometimes very large public sales | More varied: presales, seed/strategic rounds, launchpads, maybe smaller public rounds. |
| Token usage | Often speculative, less clear utility | Increasingly utility, governance, real-world asset tokenisation, and more connection to protocol/business value. |
🧭 Key Implications
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The data suggest that the massive, broadly-open ICO wave of 2017-18 is unlikely to be exactly replicated—the environment has changed.
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For projects and investors today: well-structured token sales with transparent governance & utility tend to be more credible.
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For investors in particular: higher expectations for due diligence are warranted given the large failure rate historically.
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For projects: raising via token sale today means thinking about compliance, investor protection, long-term governance, rather than purely marketing hype.
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The maturation of the market (institutional adoption, regulatory framework, tokenisation of real world assets) suggests token sales are evolving into a more sophisticated instrument rather than just speculative fundraising.
Conclusion
While the $375 million acquisition by Coinbase does not mean the dramatic ICO boom of 2017 is returning in full force, it does signify a meaningful evolution in how token capital raises may be structured. The “crowd sale” model is being reinvented—now with major institutional players, increased regulatory compliance and retail-friendly access.
For investors and projects alike, this shift offers both opportunity and caution: opportunity in broader access to capital and community participation; caution in managing risk, due diligence and realistic expectations. The era of wild token-sale speculation may be behind us, but a new era of regulated, inclusive token fundraising could well be before us.
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