EDITOR’S NOTE: We learned on April 22, by examining the terms for the TaaS ICO, that investment is prohibited in the United States. In addition to being bolded in the document, you must affirm that you are not a United States citizen before continuing. As of this writing, 9 a.m. CDT in the US on April 24, TaaS has raised US$5.5m.

If you’re new(ish) to the crypto space, you might be wondering: “How do I get in on some sweet ICO action?” And if you’re really new to the crypto space, you might ask: “What’s an ICO?” We’ll try to (figuratively) kill two birds with one stone, er, post by talking a little about a rather interesting ICO we bumped into: TaaS.

ICO: “Initial Coin Offering.”

Here’s a term that is pretty straightforward. IPO – “Initial Public Offering” – makes total sense in the investment vernacular, and is a pretty commonly used phrase. A company, having proved its worth over time, decides to raise money by, for the very first time, offering its shares to the public over one of the bigger stock markets (NYSE or Nasdaq).

Initial Coin Offerings work the same way, but the twist is that an ICO isn’t traded over a stock exchange. And, these coins are often the opposite of proven – in fact, many ICOs are trying to get enough capital to get their idea/coin/token off the ground.

Meet TaaS

 

First of all, we’ll admit it’s a pretty slick webpage – though the logo, frankly, leaves a lot to be desired. Also, there’s a bit of a Soviet connotation in the name – remember “TASS,” the Soviet news agency? (Nyet? You’re probably not old enough.)

But let’s talk about the technical aspects of this, and whether or not this idea is worthy of your investment dollars (or coins, as it were). From the website (which is the first one we’ve seen with the TLD extension of “.fund”):

TaaS is a tokenized closed-end fund designed to reduce the risks and technical barriers of investing in the blockchain space. Built on a profit-sharing smart contract, TaaS introduces an innovative Token-as-a-Service business model, allowing investors to subscribe to the fund’s income stream. TaaS built an innovative Cryptographic Audit technology to become the first, truly transparent fund dedicated to cryptocurrencies and tokens.

Sounds a little like a cross between a mutual fund and a venture capital fund.

A Crypto “Fund of Funds?”

We’ll go with that: here appears (at least to our eyes, which, while not “untrained,” aren’t experts in the fund space) to be the closest thing to a Fund of Funds that you’ll find. At least so far. Fund of Funds invest in, well, a bunch of funds. They’re like hedge funds but they just spread themselves around various mutual funds.

Or this could, if you read the materials on the site, appear to be closer to buying into a trading desk or flash trading firm. Except they’re just going after blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.

How will this shake out?

Darn good question: we’ve only got a few more weeks before the ICO is done and you can’t buy the tokens directly. Instead, you’ll have to rely on trading them on the open markets – and, as of this writing, only two exchanges are going to have the TaaS tokens as part of their mix: Livecoin and Kuna (the largest exchange in the Ukraine). (Read more here from Cointelegraph.)

So we’ll be watching closely.

By the way, if you want us to write up your ICO, send us a note: info – at – metacoin – dot – co.