Last week’s email about Crypto coins and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) got a few people hot under the collar…

One reader is even in the process of launching his own coin and wrote in to tell me how he found my comments a bit ‘out of order.’

Here’s what he said:

I read your Nest remarks on the uprising of ICO offer and find it, please do not get me hard time but did find it a bit disrespectful really. A kind of early week stress out manifestation. Pay attention to it. 

You quoted: 

‘Little more than a business plan ‘white paper’ sketched out on the back of a beermat?’ What are you talking about Rich. 

I see you as an investor, meaning that you can not have a closed mind like that.

This is a decentralized system, this is perfect Rich.  

As a small business owner this is the best thing that ever happens in the last 25 years. 

I am working on a white paper to release the first philanthropic crypto for over 6 months now. 

It is not easy money Rich, open your mind.

Now I don’t know about ‘early week stress out manifestations,’ and despite China’s ban on ICOs recently (calling them ‘illegal fundraising’) I don’t think ALL ICOs are inherently bad.

Here’s how Michael Marcovici, industry insider and director of Cayman Islands based Digital Developers Fund, describes it:

“Preparing an ICO takes only weeks and can be targeted directly at the interested investors and customers rather than going through venture capitalists.”

Hmmm…

Quick, easy, free from regulatory red tape (for the moment), big money sloshing into a hot new opportunity = sharks in the water and people getting bitten.

I’ve seen and heard it all before. We’re going through the ‘gold rush’ phase of a burgeoning new industry and fast vast fortunes are being chased.

So I’m not saying all ICOs will end up being bad investments, but let’s see where things stand in 18 months time and we’ll revisit the key points I made…

1) There’s no way of knowing which ‘coins’ will ever see any substance fall into place behind the hype – more on that in a moment.

2) It goes without saying that many of them will disappear completely.

We’ll take a look again at that time, and I’ve no problem publicly admitting any short sightedness on my part.

My colleagues at Canonbury have gone to the trouble of tracking down a real crypto expert.

He has been trading this stuff since 2011, turning an initial investment of £1,200 into a £11m portfolio.

And he seems to agree with my sentiment: 95% of these coins are junk.

But he says, there are a select number of coins with huge potential.

He’s talking in the region of 15 to 20x returns in the next three years.

And he’s organised a group of traders to give a crash course on everything you need to know to trade cryptocurrencies.

It’s called the Crypto Traders’ Academy. I’ve had a look and it’s excellent stuff.

If you are looking for the inside track on cryptocurrencies, it’s well worth reading his report.

In the meantime let me know what you think about ICO’s and the rapidly growing selection of crypto currency on offer…

Is it all being done with ‘smoke and mirrors’ or are we in the early days of a true global revolution?

Drop me an email or leave a Facebook comment here.