How Much Does it Cost to Launch an ICO?

Initial Coin Offering has become one of those Blockchain development services that needs no introduction. What started with a sea-full of doubts has now become one of the most preferred modes of raising funds in the present time.

Even amidst the several stories of failure, ICOs have been able to show their worth in the market.

Let us look at the present state of the ICO Market –

The amount of money that businesses have been able to generate from ICOs are on a constant rise and so are the success stories of Blockchain startups that have relied on the fund-raising medium after learning how to launch an ICO. Growth tangent that the ICO market is presently on has managed to swap the question – What is ICO with What is the Cost to Launch an ICO.

[In case you are one of those entrepreneurs who are yet to warm up to the idea of Blockchain, head on to Appinventiv’s Blockchain Guide for Entrepreneurs]

To give you a rough estimate, the total cost to launch an ICO can vary between $40,000 to $200,000. The overall prices can further increase or decrease based on the hourly rates of the hired blockchain development organization as well as other processes like time and manpower required to launch the website, create the cryptocurrency wallet, handle the whitepapers, etc.

Our intent today is to discuss all these factors in detail that can help you determine the costs better and make efficient budgetary ICO launch decisions.  So, without any momentarily delay, let us get straight to the part where we answer how much an ICO costs, divided among the different steps, i.e. ICO Cost breakdown.

ICO Service-Wise Cost Demarcation

Launching an ICO is a complicated process but getting an insight into the various factors that affect the overall costs can help you make better financial judgements. Dedicated blockchain app development experts can help you understand the costs better, while offering support with the legal constraints required for launching a successful ICO.

ICO Consultation

ICO Consultation, often ignored in the name of obviousness, can be a deal breaker for a number of entrepreneurs. In fact, the service alone can be one of the biggest contributory factors behind the failure of the whole process.

There are a number of things that you as an entrepreneur planning to launch an ICO have to keep into consideration. Things that only surface when you sit with a company that offers ICO services.

There are a number of things that you get an idea of when you talk to them, which ultimately helps you not just approach ICO events with greater preparation and confidence but also enter the Blockchain industry as a whole with complete information about the sector.

Here are the sub-services that are generally covered under ICO consultancy offered by ICO Companies–

• Planning of the ICO
• White Paper Drafting
• Token Creation and Marketing
• Website Development
• ICO Listing Process
• Post Launch Activities

The minimum cost of ICO consultation service comes out to be a minimum of $8,000 to $15,000.

Whitepaper Drafting and Auditing

Having a well-designed whitepaper can be the ultimate deciding factor in determining an ICO launch costs and its success. It is one of the essentials of launching an ICO. A whitepaper, when drafted with much detail, helps in making your investors understand what the project is about – what it would entail, how it would benefit them, and the general scope that it carries.

The contents of your whitepaper are what would define how practical your idea is, the problems it would solve, and how the industry that you are planning to decentralize would actually benefit from Blockchain.

Now, it is quite possible that you would have created a whitepaper yourself but it is pretty easy to overlook some of the most important considerations that you should otherwise pay attention to – something that your team of partnered Whitepaper creation specialists can help you with.

The ICO cost related to Whitepaper Drafting and Auditing across various ICO companies usually comes out to be in the starting cost of $8,000 to $20,000.

Blockchain development

The next part of how to launch an ICO is to develop a Blockchain solution. There are a number of subsets in the Blockchain development umbrella as well – Token Creation, ICO Smart Contracts, MVP, etc.

While the Blockchain development part of the ICO starts with the creation of a token or cryptocurrency that is then given to the investors in return for their investment in the ICO, it is also a mandate that you create an MVP of the Blockchain solution that would give a clear idea of how the ecosystem would work.

[Bonus Read: What is Blockchain-as-a-Service & its Business Benefits?]

Also, at this stage, it is very important that you invest in Smart Contract development as well, as any sound blockchain development company would advise you. The contract would help in keeping the investors’ best interest met. Having it in place would give them the mental peace that they received tokens in return for the money (Fiat or cryptocurrency) that they put in your business.

[Also Read: What are Smart Contracts and Their Applications]

Now ensuring that the token, smart contract and the MVP are hack-proof, real-time and scalable would call for a team of experts who have a complete in-depth idea of how each of the Blockchain solutions. You will need a reputed blockchain development firm’s help to ensure that the ecosystem you are getting made has no loophole for any hacker to enter.

The cruciality of this stage makes Blockchain development part of ICO one of the most expensive services. The starting ICO price cost range for the ICO development of different dSolutions with a dedicated ICO development company would come out to be $15,000 to $50,000.

ICO Website

A website that you provide to launch and then promote your ICO from is another most important factor of the whole fundraising process.  The website would not just contain the details of your idea, offering, and the whitepaper, it will also be the first platform that the investors will visit to know about your project.

In fact, there are a number of entrepreneurs who conduct the whole fund collection and token distribution process from their website itself, making it all the more important to ensure that the website design is seamless and easy to flow along with making sure that the whole ICO development is done in a way that the website is hack proof and is ready to hold the inflow of traffic in real-time when the ICO goes live.

Designing and development of an efficient ICO website as this will come with a starting ICO price of around $15,000 to $25,000. A professional ICO development company can further offer you exact rates based on your requirements.

Cryptocurrency wallet

Although not a mandate, having a cryptocurrency wallet in place comes in very handy for your investors to save all their cryptocurrencies together. Doing this helps them with a convenient platform where they can easily get a look into how much cryptocurrencies they carry and afford to invest.

This added feature that enhances your offering in the eyes of the investors can cost somewhere around the starting price of $15,000 to $60,000.

[Bonus Read: How Much Does It Cost to Make A Crypto Wallet App on Blockchain?]

Let us now summarize how much does it cost to launch an ICO as per the various deciding factors:

With the ICO rates offered by ICO companies now attended to, it is now time to look at the technology stacks that are deemed ideal for ICO development and to launch an ICO successfully in the market –

Technology Stack That Backs Successful ICO Launch

The technology stack required to launch an ICO is one of the major factors that can affect the overall cost. Integrating the various technologies and tools mentioned below requires professional expertise which comes at a cost.

Here are the various tools and technologies required to successfully launch an ICO. Leveraging the power of Ethereum can further help you understand digital assets transaction seamlessly while gain validation for smart contracts.

Now that we have looked at the technology stack that must be used for the ICO launch platform, the next part is to look at the other important contributing factors.

How Team Size Affects the Cost of Raising Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs)

Next to knowing the technology stack that comes in handy in all the different processes that are involved between ICO Consultancy and ICO Website Design and Development is the ideal team size that would make it all possible with ease and within time for starting an ICO.

Let us start with the manpower required for the ICO launch platform. Usually, the team size required for starting an ICO is made up of 8 to 12 professionals working as – Business Analyst, Designers, Backend & Frontend Developers, QA testers, and project manager.

Next, although like the cost of launching an ICO element which takes up multiple factors to become definite, stating a time range is also difficult but usually it takes somewhere around four to 10 months to complete the preparation of the ICO and then another one to two months to launch and market your ICO, which then usually stays live in the market for investors to put their money in for somewhere around two to three months.

Time Frame for a Successful ICO Launch

THE AUTHOR

chirag

Blockchain Evangelist