Initial coin offering through which companies sell cryptocurrency tokens to their supporters as a method of crowdfunding is really hot. On Wednesday, Brave, a startup, launched a coin offering to fund a new web browser and raised the equivalent of $35 million in about 30 seconds, according to CoinDesk.
Brave, the upstart web browser founded by Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, completed an initial coin offering (ICO) today that is likely to be distinguished for its speed and earnings.
Overall, the sale for Brave’s ethereum-based Basic Attention Token (BAT) generated about $35m and was sold out within blocks, or under 30 seconds. One buyer went so far as to purchase 20,000 ETH (or about $4.7m) worth of tokens – designed to monetize online attention and create a new revenue source for publishers.
Initial coin offerings are seen by some as an alternative to traditional share offerings. Instead of equity, backers get tokens that can be converted into units of a crypto-currency like bitcoin or Ethereum. Crypto-currencies generate value through mining which involves the computation of complex mathematical formulas.