The value of the Bancor token has dropped 56% since the June ICO, which raised ~$153M
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg : Tweets: @thestalwart and @alex Tweets: Joe Weisenthal / @thestalwart : One of the most high profile ICOs has crashed 50% since it came to market. https://www.bloomberg.com/... via @olgakharif pic.twitter.com/j7zjD3dDh3 @alex : This is going to be all of them in the short term? http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Bancor's token sale was the biggest of the 2017 wave — a record ~$150M raise for a platform meant to launch other blockchain tokens — so its price is the market's most visible scorecard on ICO valuations. Skeptics flagged problems early: within a week of the raise, researchers published a critique of Bancor's code quality and fundamental value proposition, arguing the protocol could be gamed.
The 56% drop lands while regulators are already circling the sector — Overstock's tZero sale is under an SEC probe amid reports of an expanding ICO crackdown — making Bancor the test case for whether record raises can survive contact with either scrutiny or usage.
First-order effects
- Token buyers from the June sale are deeply underwater on what was then the largest-ever ICO, and Bancor's fundraising benchmark now reads as a top-of-market valuation rather than a template.
Second-order effects
- The crash gives the SEC's widening ICO investigation its highest-profile exhibit, pressuring other large token issuers like Overstock's tZero and chilling new mega-raises.
Third-order effects
- Bancor fits a statistical pattern, not an outlier: a Bloomberg-cited study of 2,390 ICOs found 56% of crypto startups dead within four months of their sales, pointing toward a market where unvetted retail token offerings get repriced or regulated out — reviving the debate over accredited-investor rules that commentators like Joe Weisenthal have tied to how poorly most retail VC-style bets fare.
The trend: The 2017 ICO boom is entering a repricing phase in which record token raises are being marked down by both the market and regulators, separating platforms with working products from speculative issuance.