ICO Contributions In 2018 Already Surpass the $5.6 Billion Raised in 2017

Raising $6.3 billion in the first quarter of 2018, the first three months of ICO contributions have outstripped the total raised in 2017.

In the face of crippling market conditions and regulatory blackmail, investors have contributed enough to overtake 2017's entire $5.6 billion ICO economy.

Beaten into shape by 2017's spate of ICO scams, large-scale hacks, and volatile market conditions, wary investors have met 2018's 183 ICOs with unwavering fervor.

The first three months saw these street-smart capitalists pitch in nearly one hundred times the average contribution of Q1 2017.

Raising a whopping $1.7 billion, Telegram's ICO accounts for nearly a third of the year's funding - yet even excluding these unthinkable sum contributions would net $4.5 billion, or 85% of 2017's total.

That said, the bulk of the year's ICOs have lounged in the $10-25 million mark - the type of metrics expected by increasingly educated investors - who agree on smaller raises as being more lucrative.

On the topic of ICOs, most nations appear to remain at a regulatory crossroads.

Take the US Securities and Exchange Commission's ominous threat in February to clamp down on ICOs - in shutting up shop Uncle Sam would be turning away what could soon become a multi-trillion dollar economy.

"I want to go back to separating ICOs and cryptocurrencies. ICOs that are securities offerings, we should regulate them like we regulate securities offerings. End of story." - SEC Chairman, Jay Clayton.

For now, one cannot imagine strong enough force to discourage project founders, their faithful investors - or what colossal ICO funding figures we will see throughout the rest of the year.