IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) in a nutshell

Typically, you can purchase cryptocurrency in an initial coin offering (ICO) (initial coin offering). However, prior experience has shown that investing in ICOs can be risky.
 
Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have lost some of their appeal in recent years; instead, many cryptocurrency projects have started using ICOs to raise money.
For people interested in taking part in new blockchain project token releases, the ICO craze of 2017 proved to be a very risky environment.
 
An initial exchange offering, or IEO for short, is a token sale that is managed by a cryptocurrency exchange. The advantages are obvious: blockchain projects undergo a thorough vetting process where their white paper is examined, and they will also receive publicity for their crowdfunding campaign.

What is an IEO?

An Initial Exchange Offering or IEO is a fundraising campaign managed by an exchange. An initial exchange offering (IEO) implies that the fundraising will be carried out on a well-known exchange's fundraising platform.
 
This is different as compared to an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), where the project team manages the fundraising process themselves. Users will be able to use money from their own exchange wallets to directly purchase tokens on the exchange.
 
In response to the numerous instances of ICO fraud that have occurred over the past few years, entrepreneurs and startups have begun to prefer launching IEOs for cryptocurrency fundraising. Due to this, investors lost faith in the ICO industry, which caused new businesses to steer clear of using ICOs as a means of raising capital.

Workings of an Initial Exchange Offering

Before starting a sale, exchange platforms that support token offerings will carry out a number of checks to lower the risk of fraud. After all, the cryptocurrency exchange's reputation could be harmed by launching the IEOs if a new digital currency isn't everything it was advertised to be.
 
Prior to approving a blockchain project, an IEO platform will review a number of additional factors in addition to the white paper. This includes describing the product's technical features, architecture, and the issue it seeks to address. Tokenomics, the team's vision for the project, and the benefits for investors and developers will also be taken into consideration.
 
Other key factors include:

• Team and its background.
• The key selling points of the currency
• Demand, tokenomics, and the tech behind it.

Key perks of an IEO

There are some key advantages to IEO that are evident from some of the successful ones. These include:

• Investors feel more secure when token sales are carried out on a reputable cryptocurrency exchange platform. Additionally, this increases the project's legitimacy and credibility, luring future investments.
• In comparison to ICOs, IEO platforms provide investors with a better user experience.
• IEOs are probably going to go smoothly because they are carried out through third-party exchanges. Exchange platforms are in charge of overseeing transactions and may also provide assistance with development and marketing.
• Since IEOs are governed by the standards established by the exchange, there is less of a chance of fraud.
• IEOs are not accessible to the general public and are only available to current exchange platform users.

Downsides of an IEO

Alongside all the perks mentioned above, it comes with some downsides too:

• Particularly on reputable exchange platforms, listing fees can be quite expensive. Additionally, startups might be required to pay the exchange a commission on token sales.
• All cryptocurrency exchanges are not equal and don't have the same standards. One must ensure that they do proper research before choosing an exchange platform because some may not be as strict about conducting due diligence or enforcing regulations.
• Cryptocurrency pump and dump schemes continue to exist with IEO. Scammers perpetrate these schemes by creating hype around a cryptocurrency in order to generate interest and drive prices so that they can quickly sell all of their shares.

Concluding thoughts

An IEO is simple for users to participate in because they don't have to handle on-chain transactions using various wallets on various blockchains.

Instead, a user can participate fully through the trusted exchange interface with just a user account and funds in it. Furthermore, the exchange is placing its reputation and a higher level of trust in the projects on its platform.

IEOs can help you achieve your investment goals while mitigating some of the most significant drawbacks of ICOs. This is especially true if you're an investor looking to reduce your risk when buying cryptocurrency. It is a great tool for projects that envision raising funds, as the exchange's userbase will be exposed to the project and help to reach a wider audience.