initial coin offering

Based on initial public offering.

initial coin offering (plural initial coin offerings)

1. A type of funding using cryptocurrencies.

   Synonym: ICO

   • 2014 August 2, Daniel Cawrey, “The Promise and Pitfalls of Crypto Crowdfunding”, in CoinDesk‎, archived from the original on 2014-08-05:

     The idea of an appcoin is not without its critics, however, as the topic broaches the sensitive topic of how assets are pre-allocated by cryptocurrency projects. In the altcoin world, where the development team commonly keeps a certain share of the initial coin offering, this process is known as premining.