Crypto Whales Own Almost Half of Tokens From Biggest Ever ICO
Crypto Whales Own Almost Half of Tokens From Biggest Ever ICO
(Bloomberg) -- Beware of the EOS whales.
The top 10 holders of the digital tokens from the largest initial coin offering ever own nearly 50 percent of the coins, according to tracking service Etherscan. Block.one, the private company behind the project that completed the more than $4 billion offering last week, is the biggest holder, with 10 percent of the total. The names of the other large holders are anonymous and could be individuals or even exchanges.
Often called whales, large owners can hold much sway over the coin’s price. Any potential coordinated moves could put smaller investors at a disadvantage. During its almost year-long ICO, the price of EOS Tokens have rallied about 13-fold, and now has a market capitalization of about $12 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
High ownership concentration isn’t unique to EOS. With Ether, the top 100 addresses controlled 40 percent of the supply, and with coins like Qtum and Storj, top holders controlled more than 90 percent of the supply, according to an October analysis by Alex Sunnarborg, a founding partner at Tetras Capital.
To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, ;Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Randall Jensen
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