Whether you’ve been a crypto-fanatic for years or are just starting to learn about cryptocurrency investing, you’ve probably come across ICOs. But should you invest in them? And what role can ICO pools play in your crypto investing future?
Let’s explore some basics of ICO pools, when it might make sense to join one, and where you can find currently-active ICO pools today.
What Are ICOs?
Before we get into ICO pools, let’s answer a question you might have if you’re new to cryptocurrency in general: “What are ICOs?”
An ICO is an “initial coin offering.” If you’re familiar with investing and the stock market, you’re likely familiar with IPOs, or “initial public offerings” – when a company first goes public and offers its stock to public investors. An ICO is similar, but has an important difference.
ICOs and IPOs are both a means of raising funds – either by selling a new cryptocurrency or token, ideally backed by a strong plan for its use, or by selling stock. Both give you the chance to get in on an investment during its initial release. Each is essentially a gamble you take on the value of that asset increasing over time.
The biggest difference between an ICO and an IPO is that getting in on an ICO doesn’t give you any ownership stake in the company itself—only ownership of the coin or token being released.
Also Read: What is an IEO?
What are ICO Pools?
An ICO will often happen in rounds. Generally, the earlier the round you buy in, the bigger the discount on the new coin or token. However, to buy in when discounts are deepest, you would need to commit to purchasing a significant number of those coins. That can be out of reach financially for many solo investors.
What if you want to get in on ICO pre-sales with the discounts whales (high value investors) have access to, but you don’t want to—or can’t afford to—invest alone?
That’s where ICO pools come in.
An ICO pool is when a group of investors pool their money together to get in on these early-round pre-ICO deals.
The pool purchases the cryptocurrency, then distributes it to its members while keeping a small commission for its role in managing the transactions.
Why Consider Joining an ICO Pool?
There are a number of reasons you might choose to join an ICO pool. For example, you can:
- buy into a new coin or token at deeply discounted rates not available to you individually;
- let the pool track down ICO opportunities for you;
- access the pool’s research on ICOs before investing;
- buy into ICOs that never go fully public because enough funds are raised during a private pre-sale.
While there can be significant benefits to joining a pool, it’s important to remember that they—along with all investments—carry risk.
Before joining an IPO pool, you should research the pool’s track record, who manages the pool, and the structure (whether it uses smart contracts vs pool managers controlling the funds).
Read on if you’re interested in further exploring some active ICO pools.
20 Active ICO Pools in 2019
Following you’ll find 20 active ICO pools, as of June 2019.*
1. Action Pool
Action Pool is a small pool with just over 500 members. They’ve completed 9 successful funding rounds so far.
Find Action Pool at: Telegram
2. Apollo ICO Pool
Apollo ICO pool has over 1800 participants and has completed 16 rounds of funding successfully since 2018.
Find Apollo ICO Pool at: Telegram
3. Black Dragon Pool
Black Dragon Pool has over 3600 members and an established history of 27 successful ICO fundraising rounds.
Find Black Dragon Pool at: Telegram
4. Blockmotion Capital
Blockmotion Capital is a small pool with a little over 200 members. They’ve closed 10 successful funding rounds.
Find Blockmotion Capital at: Telegram
5. Crypto Excellence
Crypto Excellence launched in July 2018. With more than 1200 members, they’ve finished 16 successful ICO funding rounds so far.
Find Crypto Excellence at: Telegram
6. Crypto Round Table
Crypto Round Table has over 1800 members in its active ICO pool.
Find Crypto Round Table at: Telegram | Discord
7. Crypto Vision
With 11 of its last 13 ICO fundraising rounds completed successfully, Crypto Vision has put in a strong showing for its more than 1400 members.
Disclaimer / Author’s Note: I personally invested with Crypto Vision in 2018, and despite a number of angry investors because the pool owner wanted them to pass an 8-page quiz to receive tokens, everything worked out in the end with token distribution occurring in June 2019.
Find Crypto Vision at: Telegram | Discord
8. Crypto Whales Pool
Crypto Whales is a Portuguese ICO pool with a history of 16 successful funding rounds. It currently has over 800 participants and uses smart contracts.
Find Crypto Whales Pool at: Telegram | Discord | Website
9. GAINS
GAINS, created in late 2019, features over 1700 members and a history of completing 20 successful ICO fundraising rounds.
Find GAINS at: Telegram | Discord
10. ICO Dach
ICO Dach is a German-founded pool started in 2017, with a comparatively long history of successful ICO funding rounds (nearly 80). It has over 2000 members.
Find ICO Dach at: Telegram | Facebook
11. ICO Dog
ICO Dog has more than 2800 members. They’ve closed most of their fundraising rounds successfully – 28 in total.
Find ICO Dog at: Telegram | Discord | Website | Facebook | Twitter
12. ICO Oracles
ICO Oracles has completed more than 20 successful ICO funding rounds with its 1100+ members.
Find ICO Oracles at: Telegram
13. ICO Pool Fundraiser
ICO Pool Fundraiser is a small, but successful, pool launched in 2018. It currently has a little over 300 participants.
Find ICO Pool Fundraiser at: Telegram
14. ICO Whale
ICO Whale has a solid track record with over 1000 participants and a history of successful funding round completions – 14 so far.
Find ICO Whale at: Telegram
15. Iconizers
Iconizers is one of the older pools on this list, founded in 2017. It has nearly 2500 members and 28 successful fundraising rounds.
Find Iconizers at: Telegram
16. MBM | Fund
MBM | Fund boasts nearly 6000 members, has successfully completed all 7 of its ICO funding rounds, and has been around for over a year.
Find MBM | Fund at: Telegram
17. Moon Syndicate
Moon Syndicate has almost 2600 participants in its ICO pool and has a strong history with 11 out of 12 successful ICO fundraising round.
Find Moon Syndicate at: Telegram | Website
18. Omega Block
Omega Block currently has over 1200 participants in its ICO Pool with 16 successful funding rounds since early 2018.
Find Omega Block at: Telegram
19. Satoshi Pool
Created in 2018, Satoshi Pool hasn’t yet completed any successful ICO funding rounds, but it’s an active ICO Pool with more than 2100 members.
Find Satoshi Pool at: Telegram
20. Umbrella Pool
Umbrella Pool is an active ICO pool as of 2019, but only one of their past 7 funding rounds was successful as of the time of writing. They have over 1100 participants.
Find Umbrella Pool at: Telegram
[Sources for ICO pool member numbers and successful funding rounds came from ICOPools.io and individual pools’ Telegram and Discord publicly-disclosed membership statistics.]
* The inclusion of a pool on this list is not an endorsement and in no way constitutes financial advice. Please consult with a licensed financial adviser for professional investment advice.
ICO pools give individual crypto investors like you access to potentially deep discounts and ICO pre-sales for coins that may or may not be offered publicly. But they don’t mitigate the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.
It’s important to research all pools carefully before deciding to join one. A good place to start that research is by reviewing ratings and funding round histories at ICOPools.io.
Do you have experience joining ICO pools? You can share your experiences with them in the comments.
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