NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

The tech industry is opening its eyes to the possibilities of raising money using cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum through ‘initial coin offerings,’ and it’s about to see the first ICO from a major venture-backed company.

Last week, Kik, a messaging app popular with young people in North America, announced an ambitious plan to launch its own currency as a basis for a developer community. Kik has raised over $120 million from investors to date and it claims 300 million registered users, making it the most established company to throw its hat in the ICO ring thus far, but it is about to be beaten to the punch by Omise, a Thailand-based company that provides Stripe-like payment features in Japan and Southeast Asia.