While ICOs might be growing more popular as a way of raising capital, the investing method is struggling under its share of problems, including regulatory scrutiny, slow or congested payment methods, and of course, increased activity from hackers and bad actors.
This is according to a new report from Ernst & Young, which found that almost $400 million worth of ICO funds are “lost or stolen” thanks to hacker attacks—the most common method is phishing, the report said.
This figure accounts for over 10% of the $3.7 billion in ICO funds raised in the U.S., according to the report, which looked at over 372 individual ICO projects for the report.
The increased presences of hackers, the traditional accoutrement to cryptocurrency investments, does not seem to be preventing many investors from adding funds, as “in some cases, ICO investors are contributing capital an average rate of over $300,000 per second,” the report stated, an urgency driven by FOMO, or the fear of missing out.
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