Binary.com To Be The First Official Binary Options ICO
Binary.com has announced an intended ICO. However, unlike other ICO’s we’ve seen in the industry recently this is not done to launch a new type of trading. Not exactly. Binary.com is going to register itself on the Ethereum blockchain and list tokens as a form of equity investment in the company. They are issuing a total of 10,000,000 tokens in an open auction and will list them post-ICO on the Lykke exchange. CEO Jeane-Yves Sireau indicates the move was an easy choice when compared to hurdles presented by the current equity IPO market.
Blockchain and Binary.com, A Match Made In Heaven?
“The next step for a company of our size is naturally to go public by means of an Initial Public Offering (IPO). However, an IPO in itself is a cumbersome process that’s remained relatively unchanged for decades. Some would say it’s ripe for disruption… By opting for the ICO route –– a kind of ‘IPO on the blockchain’ –– we can go beyond the limitations of a traditional IPO”
Owners of the coins will have two choices once purchased. The first is to hold the coins in their Lykke account and receive dividend payments just like you would with a standard equity share. The second choice is to convert the coins into equity shares by trading them back to Binary.com. It is assumed by this writer that a secondary market will form in which the tokens of Binary.com will be traded like other types of digital currencies. The company is also planning to leverage the ICO to gain exposure among the cryptocurrency trading community.
Sireau adds “ Through the ICO, we can also establish our trading services among the cryptocurrency community, which is a prime target demographic for our platform,”
The Binary.com ICO: How is it Done?
Binary.com made a number of changes to the platform in preparation for the ICO. They have enabled clients to deposit, trade and withdraw in BTC and Litecoin with support for Ethereum and BitcoinCash on the way. They’ve also branched out into CFD trading to further enhance the cryptocurrency trading solutions they have to offer.
Why would you want to own a share of Binary.com? Because it is a regulated and somewhat respected binary options broker with a track record of success. The ICO documents reveal the company will profit more than $20,000,000 in 2017 and likely to return much of that money to shareholders. At 10,000,000 tokens that’s a possible $0.02 per share. Shareholders received nearly $14,000,000 in 2016 and $12,000,000 in 2015.
To participate in the ICO you will have to have an active account with Binary.com. Once your account set up and funded, if you have not already got an account, log in and go to the ICO page. The page will allow you to make a bid for tokens using crypto or fiat currency. You can place as many bids as you like to try and get the best prices. Bids are filled on a first come first serve basis starting with the highest and filled until the tokens run out. The status of your bids will be displayed at the bottom of the ICO page. Once claimed the tokens can be held in a wallet enabled for ERC20 tokens.