KuCoin Announces First IEO on Spotlight

The success of Binance Launchpad, the token sale platform which became a trampoline for several interesting blockchain projects, must have set a trend for the industry. Other crypto exchanges, like OKEx and Huobi, announced their plans for introducing similar platforms in the near future. But some exchanges can move from words to deeds a lot faster than others.

KuCoin, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Singapore also known as the ‘People’s Exchange’, is launching their first Initial Exchange Offering (IEO), organizing a token sale of MultiVAC (MTV), which is due to start on April 3. The sale will take place on KuCoin’s own launch platform called Spotlight, which was brought into operation on March 20. 

Important details concerning the upcoming IEO

One of the most important aspects of IEO is that the exchange takes upon itself the task of choosing, screening, and partially promoting the emerging blockchain projects. KuCoin representatives claim that their team spent weeks sifting through the applications before they finally chose MultiVAC as the pioneering project that will carry out a token sale on their platform. The news about the forthcoming IEO had a positive impact on the price of KuCoin’s native token - KuCoin Shares (KCS), which experienced a 10% increase since the announcement. KCS also improved its ranking on Coinmarketcap, having climbed from the 57th to the 55th position.

Although the fact that IEOs, like the one initiated by KuCoin, are gaining better traction and might eventually supersede ICOs, crypto exchanges tend to apply considerable restrictions that might deter potential investors.

For instance, KuCoin declared that they will be allowing only the holders of KuCoin Shares to participate in the first exchange offering. Moreover, the required amount of coins must be kept in the user’s trading account but not in the main one. Naturally, only the registered KuCoin users who have successfully passed the KYC procedure will be allowed to partake in the token sale.

The minimum purchase volume is established at $180 (136 KCS at the current conversion rate) whilst the ceiling amount is $3600 (roughly 2730 KCS). The IEO will be carried out on the ‘first come, first served’ basis, but it may vary during the next launches should KuCoin follow the example of Binance and decide to experiment with the scheme of token sale.

In addition, KuCoin established a rather long list of countries, 48 states to be precise, the citizens of which are banned from participating in the IEO. One might have expected to see the U.S. and China, but the inclusion of Canada and especially Japan in that list came as a surprise that may not play into the hand of KuCoin should it choose to continue imposing such severe restrictions.

A brief overview of MultiVAC

MultiVAC is a startup founded by three IT specialists from China, who have created, as they claim, a highly effective blockchain for developing dApps of industrial scale. Their solution is based on a sharding model that relies on the concept of Verifiable Random Functions which can be applied to transactions and data storage. The project developers plan to issue 10 billion MTV tokens with 600 million allocated for the IEO at Spotlight. 

Obviously, MTV is going to be listed on KuCoin in no less than a few hours after the conclusion of their first IEO.