The new, rebranded ICO is in full swing. Initial exchange offerings, or IEOs, have brought the controversial form of fundraising back to life under a new guise, and it appears to be working. And, fresh off an IEO fundraiser, which nicely makes up (more or less) its missing funds, Bitfinex has now developed an IEO platform to help it raise even more money from willing participants.
The new platform—launching today—is called Tokinex, and it’s being developed by both Bitfinex and its Ethereum-based sister company Ethfinex. It will offer a number of IEOs, in a similar fashion to Binance Launchpad.
However, in a twist to the standard IEO model, Bitfinex claims it won’t be asking for upfront listing fees—perhaps to encourage more projects to sign up. Instead it will presumably take a cut on the token sale proceeds, as is standard IEO practise.
The first token sale on Tokinex—which presumably wasn’t called Token-ex due to this company—will be announced on May 23. Tokens issued on the platform will be listed on both Bitfinex and Ethfinex, suggesting a focus on Ethereum-based coins.
The platform will operate using Blockpass, a third party KYC and ICO platform provider. It will be plugged into the two exchanges so tokens will be able to deliver to customers’ wallets whichever exchange they use.
Jean Louis van der Velde, CEO of Bitfinex, Ethfinex and Tether, said, “What it means to be an exchange has evolved alongside the maturing crypto market. It has become an entire ecosystem, not just limited to the remit of trading digital assets.”
But what about the quality of Tokinex tokens? Rest assured—before its listed, a token has to go through “commercial due diligence.” Which probably translates as: Will it fly?