Token Frenzy - The fuel of the blockchain by #GPBullhound

With over USD 800bn total market cap at the beginning of 2018, total funding of almost USD 5bn in 2017 alone and a volatility that has created greed and fear cycles in their most drastic form, the sector of Cryptographically enabled virtual currencies has captured global awareness.

Do Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the plethora of altcoins or tokens carry any value at all? Are they secure? Will they last? In our view, the underlying technology has the potential to become a catalyst for the most pivotal technological transformation.
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<p>The fuel of the blockchain
TOKEN FRENZY
Important disclosures appear at the back of this report
GP Bullhound LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority  
GP Bullhound Inc is a member of FINRA
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Dealmakers in Technology
April 2018
5
04 THE VIEW FROM GP BULLHOUND 
 
 
Sebastian N. Markowsky, GP Bullhound
06 CHAPTER 1: HISTORY & OVERVIEW OF THE BLOCKCHAIN UNIVERSE
12 CHAPTER 2: FUNDING ACTIVITY IN BLOCKCHAIN - VENTURE CAPITAL & ICOS
22 CHAPTER 3: LEADING PROTOCOLS & BLOCKCHAIN ECOSYSTEMS
 
24 EXPERT VIEW 
 
 
Joseph Lubin, Co-founder Ethereum & Founder ConsenSys
26 CHAPTER 4: KEY CHALLENGES TO BE SOLVED
 
28 BLOCKCHAIN SCALABILITY
 
29 EXPERT VIEW 
 
 
Prof. Emin Gn Sirer, Associate Professor at Cornell University
 
30 DECENTRALISATION OF EXCHANGES
 
31 EXPERT VIEW 
 
 
Peter Czaban, Polkadot Contributor & CEO Web3 Foundation
 
32 STAYING PRIVATE
 
33 EXPERT VIEW 
 
 
MacLane Wilkison, Founder NuCypher
 
34 EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE
 
35 EXPERT VIEW 
 
 
Tatu Krki, Communications Lead Aragon
 
36 CONSENSUS EFFICIENCY
37 CHAPTER 5: OUTLOOK - FINAL REMARKS
42 METHODOLOGY
Dealmakers in Technology 
CONTENTS
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
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5
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
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Sebastian N. Markowsky 
Director
Cryptographically enabled virtual currencies equivalent  
to pieces of code: Can this be sustainable?  Do they carry 
any value at all? Are they secure? While these questions 
are controversially debated for major cryptocurrencies 
("cryptos") like Bitcoin or Ethereum, it becomes a totally 
unsolvable task when looking at the plethora of altcoins 
or tokens that exist. In our view, the underlying technology 
has the potential to become a catalyst for the most pivotal 
technological transformation. However, we are skeptical 
about the "Token Frenzy" happening at the moment.  
With over USD 800bn total market cap at the beginning  
of 2018, total funding of almost USD 5bn in 2017 alone and 
a volatility that has created greed and fear cycles in their 
most drastic form, it is no wonder the sector has captured 
global awareness. 
We expect the crypto market to materially mature and  
the token phenomenon to undergo major changes over  
the months to come, not least driven by regulation. 
Regardless of the immaturity of the current activities, the 
ongoing buzz will likely give birth to a quantum leap of 
technological achievements in the distributed ledger 
technology space.
What began among an evangelist group of academics, 
computer scientists and developers has now captured the 
zeitgeist and captivated the technology industry. While the 
media examines every fluctuation of the cryptocurrency 
markets, investors have, in 2017,  poured almost USD 5bn  
into the industry through venture capital and initial  
coin offerings. 
This rise has taken the better part of a decade, beginning 
in 2009 with the introduction of the first peer-to-peer 
cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. For many, this currency and 
its underlying distributed ledger technology remain 
synonymous with blockchain. In truth, Bitcoin's core 
technology offered little more than a payment system  
and its true value only lies in its ability to demonstrate the 
long-term potential of distributed ledger technologies. 
The vision depicted by early evangelists was one of 
decentralisation of power, distrust of traditional institutions 
and an infrastructure based on encrypted, trustworthy 
transactions. While this vision has since been applied to 
industries as diverse as supply chain logistics, finance, 
winemaking and insurance, the first adopters of Bitcoin  
were far from mainstream software developers. Its  
extensive use on 'the dark web' by suspected criminal 
groups did little to bolster the technology's credentials 
in the public eye. 
From these origins, few would have expected blockchain's 
climb to the top of the global economic agenda. The 
transition that has taken place in recent years  with 
blockchain moving from hype to adoption  can be 
substantially credited to Vitalik Buterin, the pioneer  
behind Ethereum. In 2013, as a 19-year-old cryptocurrency 
researcher and programmer, Buterin created his version  
of a blockchain-based protocol, which today is one of  
the largest, most influential distributed ledger technologies.
Ethereum differed from Bitcoin in a number of important 
ways. First, Buterin created a platform that could be used 
by everyday developers. To do this he decoupled the 
protocol and application layers, creating a platform for 
decentralised applications that allowed non-blockchain 
experts to contribute. Second and perhaps most crucially, 
Buterin built a smart contract functionality into Ethereum. 
These smart contracts  cryptographic agreements 
enforced by digital, rather than legal, code  have a 
potentially endless number of commercial applications 
across industries as diverse as finance, energy, healthcare, 
and logistics. 
The first revolutionary use case of the Ethereum protocol, 
particularly its approach to smart contracts, was the initial 
coin offering (ICO). The ICO is an entirely new form of 
fundraising that has transformed the way start-ups can 
access capital. Being an automated form of crowd funding 
through blockchain technology, ICOs became an overnight 
phenomenon, with around USD 4bn raised in 2017 alone.
This momentum appears to be continuing into 2018. 
Telegram, the Russia-founded instant messaging service, 
plans to raise USD 2bn through its own ICO this year. As a 
result of these larger and larger funding rounds, the bar for 
the average ICO is rising every day and increasingly, only 
leading projects with reputable teams and backers  
are succeeding. 
In contrast, the broader strategic applications of blockchain 
technologies have yet to achieve widespread adoption. 
While Ethereum has managed to build a strong, mutually 
supportive, talented community led by inspirational leaders, 
the platform continues to face significant challenges. As 
highlighted by the contributors to this report, the challenges 
around security, privacy, and scalability are keeping the 
blockchain community awake at night.
THE VIEW
From GP Bullhound
From its inception, the decentralisation of the blockchain 
ecosystem has tended to inspire an anarchic system of 
governance. Given that the technology remains immature,  
the market is largely driven by speculation, suffers from 
insufficient transparency and close to non-existent regulation, 
and is plagued by constant rumours of fraudulent activity.  
This has left many strategic and institutional investors wary of  
the technology.
Nonetheless, this has done little to deter retail investors buying 
into the cryptocurrency boom. The overall market for alternative 
currencies exploded in 2017, reaching a total market cap 
of over USD 800bn towards the end of the year. Ether  the 
cryptocurrency behind the Ethereum protocol  had risen to a 
market cap of USD 80bn by the end of 2017, and continued to 
grow to USD 130bn by mid-January 2018. Only two years after  
its creation, the widespread use of Ether in ICOs had driven its  
value to historic highs that put the currency to the top of the 
media, political, and economic agendas.
In spite of concerns of a boom and bust cryptocurrency market, 
the underlying promise of blockchain remains intact. Through 
our detailed analysis of the ecosystem laid out in this report, we 
have encountered exceptional projects working on near-term, 
real-life uses for blockchain, such as bringing transparency 
into the supply chain of food products and conflict minerals, 
creating a decentralized, secure cloud storage and computing 
marketplaces as well as solving challenges in international 
logistics. However, core activity is still focused on building next 
generation base protocols, infrastructure projects and developer 
tools. Distributed apps seem to be an early area yet to engage.
Overall, the market is still immature, and the largest rounds raised 
by blockchain focused companies are still far behind of what we 
see in more mature sectors; even ICO funding cannot compete 
with the mega-rounds we see in the broader tech investment  
space. As technology becomes more reliable and secure, 
visibility of near-term use cases increases and investors become 
more sophisticated on a broader scale, we expect fundraising 
volumes to rise substantially.
All this adds up to an exciting future for blockchain. At GP 
Bullhound, we have worked side-by-side with a generation 
of leading entrepreneurs that have transformed the digital 
economy worldwide. We are prepared to harness this network, 
our dealmaking experience and technological and financial 
expertise to enable the rise of a new generation of technology 
pioneers.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
7
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
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HISTORY & OVERVIEW 
of the blockchain universe
EVOLUTION OF BITCOIN & ALTCOINS
A retrospective of cryptos
Cryptocurrency market capitalisation development and major milestones
December  
2005
October  
2009
November  
2013
March  
2016
Mid-2017  
& ongoing 
February 
2018 
 
Ongoing
Nick Szabo lays out the foundation for Bitcoin by releasing a paper 
titled 'Bit Gold'. It outlines some of the concepts that would  
later be implemented in distributed  ledger technology. 
 
Bitcoin whitepaper is published by an unknown author under a 
pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
Ethereum whitepaper is released. The following year the project 
commences and in 2015 raises funds through one of the first  
ICOs ever.
Cabinet of Japan approves a bill recognising virtual currencies  
as payment method. The country becomes the first major 
economy to do so.
During an unprecedented 'ICO wave', blockchain start-ups  
raise funds in the scale of USD billions. This still relatively new 
form of financing catches the eye of regulators.
After weeks of speculation, China blocks internet access to 
foreign crypto exchanges, citing 'financial risks' associated 
with crypto trading.
Regulator scrutinization of ICOs and exchanges regarding KYC 
and AML compliance continues to grow; the role of of non-profit 
foundations in certain cases remains unclear; types of token and 
connected rights continue to multiple.
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on Coinmarketcap and publicly available data as of March 5, 2018.
Current share of total market capitalisation
41%
18%
8%
5%
27%
Bitcoin
Ethereum
Ripple
Bitcoin Cash
Other
2010
2012
2014
2016
2017
2018
March 5, 
2018
USD  
470.5bn
January 8, 
2018
USD  
828.5bn
CHAPTER 1
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GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
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Transaction &  
payment services
Ecosystem
Cryptocurrency 
exchanges &  
trading platforms
Social, games  
& gambling
Identity, authentication  
& security
Enterprise  
blockchain solutions
Other
Ethereum
WAVES
Bitcoin
NEO
Own base protocols
BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSE
Overview of selected base protocols and dApps
1) These companies use directed acyclic graphs which is a blockless distributed ledger technology.
2) Not exclusive to Ethereum, based on publicly available information.
3) Scalability layer that can be ported to other blockchains (e.g. Litecoin).
CHAPTER 1
APPLICATION CATEGORYBASE LAYER PROTOCOL
NVO
Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin
(3)
(1)
(1)
(1)
(2)
Cent
11
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
10
MVPs IN THE BLOCKCHAIN SECTOR
The people behind Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.
HAL FINNEY 
Bitcoin Pioneer
NICK SZABO 
Cryptographer 
Blogger
Supporter
Co-Founder 
& Chairman
Tech & 
CryptoInvestor
5th richest person 
worldwide 
(Forbes)
Board 
Member
Member of original 
core BTC 
development team
Previously Software 
Engineer at AirBnb 
& CarWoo
Founder & CEO IOHK 
(Ethereum Classic, Cardano) 
Former member of Bitcoin 
Foundation
Founder Mattereum Strategic 
Architect at ConsenSys 
Designer of Dubai's national 
blockchain strategy
Founder & 
CEO ConsenSys
Leader of Ethereum 
Council and research team
Founder of Jaxx 
& Decentral
Author of Polkadot 
whitepaper  
Advisor for numerous 
projects
Co-Founder of Bitcoin 
Foundation and founder 
of bitcoin.com 
Leading figure in Bitcoin 
community advocating 
Bitcoin Cash
Pioneer in 
cryptocurrency 
and smart contracts
Author of Bit Gold 
paper in 2005
CEO at Blockchain 
Lab 
Former Director 
at coinbase
Founder & Executive 
Chairman at Blockchain 
Research Institute
Co-Author of 'The 
Blockchain Revolution
Crypto Valley 
Association
Global Blockchain 
Business Council
Forbes editor 
(Blockchain  
and Fintech)
Podcast 'Unchained'
Co-presenter 
of Kaiser report
JOSEPH LUBIN 
Founder 
Ethereum
ANDREAS 
ANTONOPOLOUS 
Bitcoin Expert
GAVIN ANDESEN 
Founder BTC 
Foundation
MIKE 
NOVOGRATZ 
CEO Galaxy 
Expert
WINKLEVOSS 
BROTHERS 
Internet 
Entrepreneurs
STEPHEN 
BROTHERS 
Blockchain 
Capital
MARC 
ANDREESSEN 
Founder 
a16z
BARRY SILBERT 
Digital Currency 
Group
ALBERT WENGER 
Managing 
Partner USV
OLAF 
CALSON-WEE 
Founder 
Polychain 
Capital
JOSHUA SEIMS 
Founder 
MetaStable 
Capital
NAVAL RAVIKANT 
Founder Angel List
BROCK PIERCE 
CEO Bitcoin 
Foundation
ROGER VER 
Blockchain 
Investor
SATOSHI NAKAMOTO 
Aurthor(s) of Bitcoin 
whitepaper
VITALIK BUTERIN 
Author of Ethereum 
whitepaper
TIM & BILLY 
DRAPER 
Draper 
Associates
LAURA SHIN 
Journalist
DON 
TAPSCOTT 
Professor & 
Author
OLIVER 
BUSSMANN 
Fintech 
Expert
MAX KEISER 
Journalist
INDUSTRY EXPERTS
CHRIS LARSEN 
Founder  
Ripple
VINEY GUPTA 
Founder 
Ethereum
CHARLES 
HOSKINSON 
Founder 
Ethereum
GAVIN WOOD 
Founder & former 
CTO Ethereum
BRIAN 
ARMSTRONG 
Founder 
Coinbase
CALIN CULIANU 
BTC Cash 
Contributor
CHARLIE LEE 
Creator Litecoin
ANTHONY DIIORIO 
Founder 
Ethereum
Receiver of first 
ever Bitcoin 
payment
Author 
'Mastering 
Bitcoin' and 
'The Internet 
of Things'
Former Relationship
Current Relationship
Investment
KATHLEEN & 
ARTHUR BREITMANN 
Founders  
Tezos
CHAPTER 1
? ?
ALTCOINS
INVESTORS
ETHEREUM
BITCOIN
13
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
12
Leading blockchain investors are almost exclusively based in the US. These investors are largely general 
technology venture capitalists that have shifted their focus towards blockchain technologies.
European blockchain funding is currently experiencing strong momentum due to a large base of top 
blockchain talent, particularly in Berlin and Zug (Switzerland). Still, most investments into European blockchain 
companies originate from the US. While there is a vibrant scene of angels and seed investors that have shifted 
towards crypto investments, only a few funds of meaningful size currently focus on the space. 
Asia is also picking up pace quite fast with a number of leading entrepreneurs in the region having realised  
the potential of blockchain. These investors and supporters often focus on local blockchain projects.
Venture capital funding into blockchain companies, by region
Source: Pitchbook and publicly available data.
2015
2015
2015
2017
2017
2017
447
152
111
247
50
45
(USDm)
Venture capital 
funding volume
(2015-2017)
CAGR
75%
57%
35%
VENTURE CAPITAL FUNDING
Strong momentum in Europe
North America
Europe
Asia
FUNDING ACTIVITY  
IN BLOCKCHAIN 
Venture capital & ICOs
CHAPTER 2
15
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
14
Peter 
Thiel
Naval 
Ravikant
Top 10 blockchain companies by cumulative venture capital funding (2014-2017)
Cumulative venture capital funding (USDm)
Selected investors
Source: Pitchbook and publicly available data.
251
121
136
116
100
94
90
77
71
107
VENTURE CAPITAL BLOCKCHAIN TARGETS
Venture capital activity remains early stage
 The 10 best funded blockchain companies combined only accumulated  
USD 1.3bn of venture capital funding between 2014 and 2017
Investors by number of blockchain companies in which they have invested
Investors with holdings in 6-8 blockchain companies
Source: Pitchbook and publicly available data. Note: Includes both past and current investments.
1) Including investments by CEO Barry Silbert. 2) Companies linked to Adam and Timothy Draper (who are father and son).
3) Including investments by Founder & Managing Director Timothy Draper.
USA
Asia
45
27
17
14
11
9
9
9
9
9
11
(2)(3)
(2)
(1)
MOST ACTIVE INVESTORS
Regional concentration is high
 9 out of the top 10 blockchain investors are based in the US 
 Top 10 investors made 13.3% of total investments from 2015-2017
Naval Ravikant 
Founder of Angelist
Ben Davenport 
Founder of BitGo
CHAPTER 2
17
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
16
Total venture capital funding 
vs. ICO funding (USDm)
Top 10 ICOs with prior 
venture capital funding 
Source: Pitchbook, Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data.
Note: Includes disclosed venture capital rounds. Includes ICOs with >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date between 2015 and 2017.
1) Kik did not start as blockchain project but raised significant ICO funding. This resulted in a distortion of the data presented.
181.4x
4.8x
22
105
0.8x
121
98
14.1x
4
59
11.8x
5
53
9.3x
6
52
34
45
1.3x
5.1x
7
36
ICO
Venture Capital
457
85
709
4,044
341
5
2015
2016
2017
23.2x
232
10
1
145
(1)
72.2x
1
80
ICO FUNDING BOOM
Funding explosion in 2017
  For blockchain companies ICO funding outperforms venture capital funding by a factor of 5,  
while 1 USD of venture capital funding usually translates into over 4 USD of ICO volume when  
looking at the top 10 ICO rounds
 Due to the surge in 2017, ICOs now constitute 
around  of all funding in blockchain start-ups  
in 2015-2017
 Projects with the potential to generate  
traction near term prefer ICO funding. Longer 
term ecosystem projects are less suited for  
coin offerings
ICO vs. venture capital funding volume across categories (2015-2017)
Transactions & payment Services
Social, games & gambling
USD 1,011m
USD 786m
Cryptocurrency exchanges & trading
Identity, authentication & security
USD 1,451m
USD 407m
Ecosystem
Other (1)
USD 946m
USD 1,040m
Source: Pitchbook, Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data.
Note: Includes disclosed venture capital rounds. Includes ICOs with >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date between 2015 and 2017.
1) Other includes Cloud Services, Enterprise Blockchain Solutions, Supply Chain Solutions and companies without blockchain focus.
54%
46%
9%
91%
17%
83%
15%
85%
37%
63%
24%
76%
USD 
5,642m
ICO
Venture Capital
27%
73%
INVESTOR FOCUS
Venture capital vs. ICO preferences
CHAPTER 2
19
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
18
With the rapid rise of the ICO funding market, the period from venture capital funding to the ICO has 
shortened significantly. This is partly driven by the fact that venture capital funding typically available for a 
couple of years of development was completely overtaken by ICOs as a relatively young exit route promising 
more or less similar exit times. 
As shown in the graph, many younger companies pursuing an ICO have completely ignored venture capital 
funding and started raising money through a private pre-ICO round, followed up by a public ICO. 
However with the predicted cooldown of the ICO market, we expect to see venture capital funding picking 
up versus ICOs and periods of venture capital funding before ICOs increasing. Venture capital with a strong 
understanding and hands-on mentality that can add value to a proposal and its execution will clearly win  
over crowd investor money.
Number of years of venture capital funding prior to ICO vs. year founded
 Horizontal axis denotes founding year 
 Vertical axis denotes time period between year founded and the ICO financing round 
 Bubble size denotes number of companies / projects for a given founding year and time period
Source: Pitchbook, Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data.
Note: Includes disclosed venture capital rounds. Includes ICOs with >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date between 2015 and 2017.
RETURN OF VENTURE CAPITAL
Equity funding into blockchain is here to stay
<1 year
# of yearsGP Bullhound 
estimates
2009 2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
1-2 years
2-3 years
3-4 years
4+ years
 Investments by major blockchain investors and post-ICO trading performance are positively correlated
 Engagement of a reputable investor in a project appears to be a key determinant for success. It remains  
to be seen if contributions of reputable investors improve projects or merely serve as a key orientation for  
ICO investors
 Long-term post ICO performance will likely reveal more details on the question whether reputable investors 
increase the probability of long-term success
Source: Pitchbook, Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data Note: Includes ICOs with >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date
between 2015 and 2017. 1) 60-day multiple of ICO price (adjusted for ETH price development, ICO volume-weighted). Performance multiples only include ICOs with available 60-day
trading data. Data as of March 5, 2018. 2) Only includes ICOs which specified a hard cap on their fundraise. 3) Defined as investors that invested in more than six blockchain projects.
(normalised vs. ETH)
Multiple(1)
Funding cap 
reached(2)
#ICOs
(USDm)
Funds raised
Overall
1.7x
17
20%
250
Top venture capital 
investors(3)
3.6x
50
43%
21
Other investors/ 
no investors
1.3x
14
17%
229
INVESTOR INFLUENCE
ICO performance is driven by reputation
CHAPTER 2
21
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
INTRA-YEAR SENTIMENT
After peaking in October 2017, 
the ICO market has cooled down
Monthly ICO count (1)
Funding cap reached (average per quarter 2017) (2)
Max.# of ICOs 
October 2017
72
Jan-17
Apr-17
Jul-17
Oct-17
Q1
53%
18%
72%
72%
99%
100%
62%
9%
Q3
Q2
Q4
Source: TokenData, Cryptocompare and publicly available data. 1) Includes all ICOs in the database from tokendata.com which have been completed
and feature a specified ICO date. ICOs with unavailable funds raised are assumed to have raised < 5 USDm. 2) ICOs which exceeded their funding
cap are recognized as 100% in the average. Only includes ICOs which specified a hard cap on their fundraise. Major outliers are excluded.
ICO Volume > USD 5m
ICO Volume < USD 5m
ICO Volume > USD 5m
ICO Volume < USD 5m
 In Q3 & Q4 2017 there was a large number of smaller, less successful ICOs
Average
65%
Average
22%
Many projects conducting an ICO specify soft and hard caps in their whitepaper. The former indicates the 
minimum amount of funds required to pursue the project. Should this threshold not be reached, all funds 
invested in the project are returned. The latter represents the upper boundary of funds required for the project. 
Funds in excess of this figure are returned.
The chart below examines trading performance in relation to funds raised as a fraction of communicated hard 
cap. The bar to the right shows the performance of projects that reached or exceeded their funding goals. It 
should be noted that not all ICOs specify funding caps, essentially "taking all they can get". The largest ICO in 
2017, Tezos, collected USD 232m without specifying the amount of funds the project would require.
Reaching (or in some cases exceeding) the funding cap is positively linked to trading performance. Projects 
that reached less than 50% of their funding goal underperformed on average. In contrast, projects that 
exceeded their pre-specified fund requirements were able to more than double the quote of their token  
60 days after their ICO.
Average 60-day performance by % of funding cap reached
Source: Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data Note: Includes ICOs with specified hard
cap, >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date between 2015 and 2017. 1) 60-day multiple of ICO price (adjusted for ETH price development, ICO
volume-weighted). Performance multiples only include ICOs with available 60-day trading data. Data as of March 5, 2018.
Multiple(1) (normalised vs. ETH)
# of ICOs
0-49%
50-99%
>100%
75
0.7x
41
1.8x
48
2.3x
FUNDING GOALS
ICO hype and performance
20
CHAPTER 2
23
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
22
LEADING PROTOCOLS 
& blockchain ecosystems
POTENTIAL CHALLENGERS
KEY BASE PROTOCOLS
Who dominates the market?
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on Pitchbook, Cryptocompare, Coinmarketcap, ICO Bench, ICO Bazaar, ICO Drops and publicly available data
Note: Includes ICOs with >1 USDm funds raised and ICO end date between 2015 and 2017. 1) Defined as (market cap of ICO companies on base
protocol ) / (market capitalisation of base protocol). Data as of 5 March 2018. 2) Market share as of total market capitalisation
ETHEREUM
WAVES
BITCOIN
NEO
# of ICOs 
to date
ICO volume 
(USD)
Market cap 
ratio (1)
Market cap 
share (2)
Maternity of platform 
(year of release)
201
3,213m
21.2%
18.1%
<0.1%
41.4%
0.02%
17.2%
1.0%
1.8%
63m
27m
38m
14
3 
(2015)
3 
(2015)
2 
(2016)
9 
(2009)
4
3
CHAPTER 3
25
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
24
We have reached a turning point. Technology has 
significantly advanced our civilisation; and yet, over the  
last few decades, certain institutions have lost the trust  
of vast swathes of the population. As a result, there are  
a lot of people who believe in the philosophy of trust and 
decentralisation  this is the fundamental principle behind  
the blockchain.
ConsenSys is a global organisation that specialises in 
developing blockchain software  primarily within the 
Ethereum ecosystem  for institutions, corporations, and 
governments. It also dedicates a lot of time towards building 
the infrastructure of the public Ethereum ecosystem, 
ensuring that it can process around 6bn requests per day.
Ethereum has set itself apart from other blockchain 
platforms as far more expressive and accessible. If you  
can build a web or mobile application then you can build 
a decentralised mobile application on Ethereum. Therefore, 
it has captured the imagination of software developers 
around the world, not only the early adopters of blockchain.
Leadership is certainly something that is very important 
and that has contributed to the development of Ethereum. 
Vitalik Buterin is an exceptional scientist who has led 
the progress of many aspects of the Ethereum protocol. 
However, he is only one of many immensely talented  
leaders in Ethereum  it is a collective ecosystem which 
draws strength from the breadth and diversity of the  
people operating on it. 
One analyst estimated that the number of developers 
working on the Ethereum protocol is 30 times larger than 
its closest competitor, the IBM-backed Hyperledger fabric. 
We have strived to retain Ethereum's founding principles 
of friendliness and cooperation as it has grown. This focus 
has ensured that we have maintained the diversity of 
people operating on Ethereum, meaning governance 
and leadership in this community do not rely on one single 
person, but thrive on the collective input of different classes 
of actors.
As a result, the only metric I truly pay attention to is the 
number of developers operating in the Ethereum ecosystem. 
Certainly, ConsenSys has expanded substantially over 
the past couple of years and we now have around 700 
employees spanning 28 countries around the world. Likewise, 
the rise in monetary value of Ether  the cryptocurrency 
closely associated with the Ethereum protocol  has  
added value to the ecosystem and drawn the attention  
of developers, entrepreneurs, and investors, all of which  
are vital to our future success.
This growth has, of course, created some challenges. 
Ethereum was built primarily as an elegant solution to 
creating a blockchain protocol that reflected fundamental 
principles of trust, privacy and confidentiality. While most 
developers have spent the last three decades attempting 
to build a global IT infrastructure, we instead focused on 
harnessing cryptographic techniques that protected our 
basic ethos but did not operate at scale.
One of our key objectives over the coming months will, 
therefore, be building scalability back into our infrastructure. 
There are solutions already being developed  sharding, 
for one, provides a potential solution to the problem of 
scalability. Similarly, I believe that 2018 will see substantial 
strides made in the development of an intranet that operates 
between different blockchain systems  this will also enable 
the Ethereum protocol to scale.
Banks and financial institutions were the first to tap into  
the potential of blockchain to create entirely new business 
models. Currently, vast numbers of institutions are testing the 
water and using private, permissioned blockchain platforms 
to innovate. Across every industry  from supply chains to 
energy, insurance and education  there is a drive to move 
away from siloed digital infrastructure to collaboration on 
distributed ledgers. 
A similar phenomenon is taking place with the rise of the  
ICO. While there is some irrational exuberance attached 
to this new model, it is a revolutionary technology that will 
create a paradigm shift. In my view, a model of businesses 
offering services to consumers in a one-way transaction is 
simply not going to last. In its place, a market sitting on a 
protocol-driven, open platform with many stakeholders,  
none of whom overly control or monetise the system will 
develop. Today's developments and the rise of token 
offerings is the start of a transformation. 
When it comes to competition, Ethereum has built such a 
strong network effect among thousands of developers that 
it retains an exceptionally strong position ahead of other 
similar protocols. There are some that emerge and create 
a level of stability, such as Dfinity or RChain. However, these 
projects have consistently struggled to build the community 
that we have created through Ethereum.
Joseph Lubin 
Co-founder Ethereum & Founder ConsenSys
SETTING THE PACE   
for blockchain developers
WHY ETHEREUM?
Explanations for its dominance
Addressed scams
Apart from the DAO case, the Ethereum 
community has been active in evaluating 
the feasibility and legitimacy of newly 
launched projects, offering an expert  
view for those who want to listen.
Relative ease-of-use
Ethereum offers the easy-to-use scripting 
language Solidity and, amongst others, 
the ERC20 token standard which allows 
developers to build decentralised 
applications on top of Ethereum instead 
of needing to build and maintain their 
own blockchain.
1
Ethereum enjoys broad acceptance 
in the community and can arguably 
be described as the standard protocol 
for decentralised applications. Strong 
supporters like ConsenSys or the  
Enterprise Ethereum Alliance further  
drive the momentum.
Strong community
2
Better performance metrics
Ethereum offers some of the best block 
time / speed ratios in the market (currently 
below 15 seconds) and is the first offering 
these advancements in performance. 
The aim of Ethereum is 50 thousand 
transactions per second with no loss  
of decentralisation.
3
4
Clear vision, leadership 
and credibility
While founders and key developers  
of Ethereum might deny the leadership 
aspect of their position, they've managed 
to act coherently and consistently over 
time offering a promise of long-term 
security through multiple independent 
development teams and preference  
of algorithmic governance.
5
CHAPTER 3
27
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
26
BLOCKCHAIN  
SCALABILITY
CONSENSUS 
EFFICIENCY
KEY CHALLENGES 
to be solved
DECENTRALISATION 
OF EXCHANGES
STAYING  
PRIVATE
EFFECTIVE 
GOVERNANCE
KEY CHALLENGES TO BE SOLVED 
Addressing these topics will 
help enable mass adoption
CHAPTER 4
29
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
28
BLOCKCHAIN SCALABILITY
How to increase throughput
WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO SCALE?
The shared database is split 
into several parts, lowering the 
amount of data each single 
node has to store.
Transactions are regularly done 
off-chain. The blockchain is 
only used to settle disputes, 
significantly lowering the load.
Chain agnostic
Already operating close to 
its limit, leading to congestion 
and delays
1.8m
1.2m
0.6m
max. capacity
-
Jan 17 Apr 17
July 17 Oct 17
Jan 18
Different aspects are tied to the scalability issue. 
Improvements in one area negatively affect others
Multi-chain scaling
Off-chain scaling
ETHEREUM ACTUAL 
DAILY TRANSACTION 
THROUGHPUT
MAJOR SCALING CONCEPTS
SCALABILITY PROJECTS
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on Etherscan and proprietary data.
1) Scalability initiatives by the Ethereum foundation.
Transactio
n 
complexit
y
Transaction 
throughput
SecurityPrivacyVerification timesTransactions 
per second
20
2-4
56,000
Transactions 
per second
Transactions 
per second
2,800x
STATUS QUO
PLASMA
SHARDING
(1)
(1)
SCALABILITY
The ecosystem that we have today began with the 
development of public blockchain technologies and the 
production of cryptocurrencies. Public blockchains face 
challenges, but fundamentally have far more potential  
than private blockchain networks. 
The public blockchain ecosystem has been forced to  
address significant technological challenges. First is 
the problem of scale: on-chain scaling  the process of 
increasing the capacity of a network through amending 
the blockchain itself  is a technically complex issue for 
developers. Off-chain transactions offer a simpler solution  
to create capacity, through harnessing something other 
than the blockchain to scale, such as virtual payments. Yet, 
this undermines the basic premise of using blockchain for 
trust and decentralisation.
My research group is at the forefront of both on-chain and 
off-chain scaling. I think on-chain scaling is critical to the 
future of blockchain  anybody who attempts to bypass 
it is not operating with the correct principles. You can see 
this playing out with Bitcoin. Any Tom, Dick or Harry will tell 
you about the lightning network  a payment protocol that 
operates on top of Bitcoin. While Tom, Dick, and Harry may 
be telling us to engage in the network and create payments 
channels, I have never seen a mathematical proof for its 
vision and my gut feeling is that this is nothing more than  
a pipe dream.
A greater risk still is the existence of unchecked, 
potentially fraudulent protocols. As we speak, the Tether 
cryptocurrency is going through an investigation by the 
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. If Tether goes 
down, it will take down multiple exchanges and the price  
of Bitcoin will plummet. Likewise, there are many, many 
pitfalls in the distributed systems that we have been  
building. History is littered with badly designed systems,  
and while we continue to develop with gut feelings,  
we will face fundamentalsystem failures.
The ambition to create an entirely secure ecosystem 
has similarly created challenges for the public blockchain 
community. We can rely upon the ecosystem itself to 
be secure, but the endpoints of the network  the interface 
for everyday users  can remain unsecure. We may 
spend decades waiting for these to become secure, 
so developers have created coins that have an inbuilt 
system to protect users.
Private institutions have attempted to bypass these  
technical difficulties through creating closed networks and 
using 'permissioned launching'. Permissioned launching 
started with the notion of an industry approaching the 
field and saying: "Looking at blockchain, there are several 
features of the technology that we would like to cherry pick, 
so long as we can disregard the difficult parts." 
As a result, these industries are tweaking the technology  
and harnessing private networks of 'validators'  machines 
that are tasked with keeping track of the blockchain. This is 
not how the technology should work. While it may appear 
to remove the need for a single central authority, the fact 
that the data is smeared across five or ten or twenty people 
does not make me sleep any easier at night.
Yet, there are countless businesses now creating  
deployments of permissioned launching. I do not expect 
them to be used for mission-critical applications, but there 
will be plenty of applications that are far from mission-
critical. The Whoppercoin that Burger King developed for 
example  essentially a vehicle for customer loyalty points. 
This is a perfect example of blockchain without purpose   
it simply does not matter what happens to the data, so why 
is it on the blockchain?
More promising progress is being made developing hybrid 
architectures that combine a public and private blockchain 
infrastructure. In these hybrid systems, you create a chain 
that is routed on the public blockchain, then moved onto 
a private blockchain before reverting back to the public 
blockchain. For instance, a government may want to 
record votes on a public blockchain, tally these votes on 
the side on a private blockchain, before placing the results 
of the tally back on the public blockchain.
It will take a very diverse and broad range of operators 
to successfully deploy blockchain at scale. This is why we 
have established the Initiative for Cryptocurrency and Smart 
Contracts  we are harnessing the diverse approaches 
of around fifteen professors and about forty to sixty PhD 
students, to carry out ground-breaking research and build 
blockchain technology that lasts.
Prof. Emin Gn Sirer 
Associate Professor at Cornell University,  
Computer Scientist & Blockchain Researches
SCALING SOLUTIONS  
Maximising throughput
CHAPTER 4
31
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
30
DECENTRALISATION OF EXCHANGES
Solving the issues in cryptotrading
CHALLENGES TO BE SOLVED
CENTRALISED
HYBRID
DECENTRALISED
 Liquidity
 Tech flaws
 Future changes to protocol
 User friendliness
 Key storage
 Cross-chain transactions
 KYC / AML / CFT
 Fiat limitations
 Miner front-running
 Off-chain order manipulation
Centralised structures undermine the ground principles of blockchain
Other
Unfair trading
DECENTRALISED  
EXCHANGE LAYERS
INTEROPERABITLITY
DECENTRALISED EXCHANGES
Stage-explained
Blockchain relevance
As of March 5, 2018 
1,522 different tokens
USD 470.5bn 
total market cap
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Number of crypto coins 
and tokens
66
506
562
644
1,335
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on Coinmarketcap and proprietary data.
1) MakerDAO develops the decentralised exchange Oasis DEX.
STATUS QUO
Blockchain today is facing several major hurdles. While it  
whas demonstrated an exceptional theoretical potential, 
it has yet to break into mainstream adoption. This is largely 
due to the fact that the technology is struggling to develop 
at scale with simple use cases. 
The magnitude of development of viable use cases is 
inversely proportional to how difficult it is for developers to 
build projects on blockchain protocols. When working on 
blockchain becomes easier, more projects are conceived, 
more entrepreneurs enter the field and more likely it will 
get for feasible relevant use cases to evolve. However, a 
lot of projects in the space right now are focusing not on 
end users, but rather on the protocol itself. These are teams, 
often with academic backgrounds, that have raised funds 
which they are using for research, concept development 
and other pre-alpha activities. Many of these teams have 
a very loose approach to the practical aspects of their 
projects and will certainly fail to break into the mainstream. 
On the other hand, it is yet difficult to build blockchain-
based applications comparable with their traditional 
counterparts for several reasons mostly related to the 
underlying base protocols like limited throughput, 
transaction costs and so on. Also currently, individual 
protocols operate in isolation and while they could offer  
a lot of exciting functionality, they do not interface with  
one another. This leads to applications built on siloed 
protocols being too expensive to use compared to 
"traditional" centralised solutions available. 
This is the issue Polkadot  being one of the Web3 
Foundation's most prominent projects  tackles. Started 
about a year ago, Polkadot is a protocol that is guided 
by a mission to enable faster interactions throughout the 
blockchain ecosystem and make use cases easier to bring 
into life. Polkadot seeks to create a network of interoperable 
blockchains, where a single project or application could 
benefit from advantages of different protocols. It does 
this through a relay chain, which communicates and 
coordinates consensus across the entire network, individual 
parachains  public or private blockchains that make up 
the constituent parts of the overall network  and bridges 
that link to blockchains with their own consensus, such as 
Ethereum. 
All this is essentially a part of a greater, more complex 
challenge the blockchain technology is facing - scalability. 
The market has yet to solve the problem of limited 
blockchain throughput (comparatively low number of 
transactions processed). The industry needs to have 
concrete roadmaps to address the topic efficiently. While 
there are several teams working on the issue right now - 
Polkadot enabling a network of blockchains, Ethereum 
sharding, off-chain solutions, etc. - what we'll eventually 
need is a combination of all these approaches. Currently,  
it looks like splitting the block validation between the nodes 
is the way to go forward. However, how do you guarantee 
that the validation is accurate?
The problem of blockchain scaling goes hand-in-hand 
with a trade-off between transaction complexity and 
transaction security. The complexity might naturally vary 
from one protocol to another: the Ethereum protocol is a 
rigorous contract-based system, while other blockchains  
are simpler value transfers. The security is a burden closely 
tied with usability: how long am I, as a user, ready to wait  
to ensure that the transaction was executed smoothly AND 
in a secure manner? 
Today, each blockchain requires a separate securing 
community. For instance, Bitcoin and Ethereum have a 
community of miners that provide computational power, 
verify transactions and ensure the security of the ecosystem. 
However, these communities are self-serving. If I want to 
establish a new blockchain, whether public or private, I 
need to persuade enough people to join the ecosystem, 
maintain it and verify transactions. 
Relay chains of Polkadot create a network of pooled 
security through tying different blockchain ecosystems  
into one. This makes it possible to deploy a new blockchain 
which is secured not only by my own small community 
of maintainers, but the entire Polkadot network. This 
radically transforms the challenge of scalability through 
guaranteeing security throughout a global network of 
distinct blockchains. 
There is every likelihood that the Polkadot network could 
become the fabric that interconnects all the different 
pieces of the ecosystem, while providing the needed 
security. And we do believe that connected decentralised 
systems are the future of the Internet. 
This is why the Web3 Foundation aims at helping young 
initiatives in the decentralised software space by educating 
and nurturing them towards a clear future development. 
We need widespread education both within the industry  
to move it forward, as well as outside of it  to make it more 
lucrative for the traditional developers to join the booming 
market. 
We strongly believe that through the combination of 
educational and tech projects, we will be able to unlock 
blockchain's full potential  and bring us to the future where 
trustless, serverless and fully decentralised web is a reality. 
Peter Czaban 
Polkadot contributor & CEO Web3 Foundation
DEVELOPER TOOLS  
Enabling cross-chain
(1)
CHAPTER 4
33
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
32
STAYING PRIVATE
Anonymity despite transparency
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on proprietary data.
IMPORTANCE OF BLOCKCHAIN PRIVACY
Privacy coins provide a strong offering for concealing transactions. However, 
extending these privacy tools to other data stored on the blockchain and being 
able to securely share it with other entities in the network, such as regulators or 
auditors, is not in their scope. These kind of services are offered by some players 
as standalone services or additional layers to existing protocols.
A blockchain is a public database of transactions and therefore not private by 
definition, since validators on the blockchain need to be able to verify these 
transactions. At the same time, the connection between a blockchain address 
and the person or organisation behind it is often missing. General Data Protection 
Regulation ("GDPR") becoming effective in May 2018 will pose some key challenges 
to the entire blockchain space.
Enterprises are in a field of tension between privacy and transparency, while 
regulators have a clear need for more transparency in order to fulfil their tasks.
Publicly known addresses on the 
blockchain protecting against 
identity theft.
Insights into transactions to control 
money-laundering, terrorist financing 
and tax evasion.
Sensible consumer data stored on  
the blockchain; consumers right to  
be forgotten.
Anonymity of customers and 
suppliers protecting trade secrets.
PRIVACY COINS
Enterprise
Regulator
Regulator
Enterprise
PRIVACY LAYERS
STATUS QUO
NEED FOR TRANSPARENCY
NEED FOR PRIVACY
Blockchain has a privacy problem. On the one hand, the 
concept of creating a private network with hidden data 
or transactions conflicts with the technology's founding 
principles of openness, trust, and decentralisation. On the 
other hand, we believe privacy will prove critical to the 
ability of blockchain technologies to achieve widespread 
adoption and scale.
We founded NuCypher to begin addressing this problem. 
We have focused primarily on the issue of data privacy. 
By default, the data that is created on distributed ledgers 
is public, particularly when using the Ethereum protocol. 
However, many of the projects harnessing these protocols 
to develop decentralised applications are working with 
sensitive data that needs to remain private.
For instance, a healthcare provider might be looking to 
create a decentralised method of storing patient records.  
This provider will be seeking to benefit from the security 
and efficiency of a distributed ledger. Yet, the records that 
it is storing must be private, confidential, and encrypted. 
NuCypher provides a platform for harnessing the public 
blockchain with privacy. 
The issue of privacy of transactions in a blockchain  
ecosystem has recently given rise to a number of 
cryptocurrencies focused on providing anonymity and 
inscrutability. These 'privacy coins', such as Monero, Dash, 
and Zcash, offer a vehicle to keep the personal information 
of users hidden during transactions. However, there is an 
obvious concern that this anonymity will simply be used to 
obscure criminal activity and it is certainly the case that 
a lot of their current usage is for transactions on the 
black market. 
As a result of this concern, there has been some discussion 
of building back-doors into the currencies to allow certain 
parties, such as a regulator, to freely view the data behind 
a transaction. There is a simple problem with this approach. 
Once you have built a back-door into the technology, the 
likelihood is that someone else is also going to find it. This 
discovery will either enable a bad actor to take advantage 
of the back-door, or it will simply be closed off by users of 
the network who want to maintain its privacy. Essentially, the 
idea of having real cryptographic privacy is fundamentally 
opposed to the idea of introducing back-doors. 
If there was to be some regulation of privacy coins, it would 
be a non-technical solution as attempting to adapt the 
protocol is more or less impossible. In order to maintain the 
mathematical or cryptographic integrity of transactions, you 
could introduce 'know your customer' checks. In traditional 
financial services, these checks are used to ensure that 
banks know and verify the identity of their consumers. In 
blockchain, this would mean that vendors or exchanges 
would have a duty to know their customers.
In the future, NuCypher could plug into this process to 
create a central order book for vendors and exchanges 
that is encrypted to the public but accessible by an 
approved list of users. While this is a potential use case, we 
do not currently have anyone using our solution in this way. 
For now, we are largely focused on providing our users with 
a way to store private data on public blockchain protocols. 
We have been fortunate to work with supportive, insightful, 
and influential investors, from specialist funds like Polychain 
Capital and FBG Capital to traditional groups such as Base 
Ventures and Y Combinator. As with any tech company,  
these investors support our growth strategy, refer potential 
hires, and help us with our legal frameworks. One area 
that has required more specialist support, however, is our 
upcoming token sale.
The majority of token sales currently taking place are simply 
a vehicle to raise cash quickly. If you are seriously trying to 
build a sustainable protocol with a sustainable network, you 
need to think very carefully about how you actually want 
to distribute those tokens  who should have them, how 
many should each person have  the foundations of crypto-
economics. These are technical hurdles that have required 
us to lean on specialist blockchain investors.
Our token sale is a serious commitment to creating 
blockchain technologies with genuine strategic value for  
our users. The future success of the blockchain will rest on its 
ability to deliver a trusted solution, whether private or public, 
to developers and enterprises around the world. 
MacLane Wilkison 
Founder NuCypher
PRIVACY SOLUTIONS  
Encryption will be key
CHAPTER 4
35
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
34
EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE
Who owns blockchain projects?
NAVIGATING TOKEN TYPES
FORESEEABLE TOPICS
GOVERNANCE FOCUSED PROTOCOLS
GOVERNANCE TECHNOLOGY
There are many types of coins and tokens in the market which differ in 
rights granted to token holders. Within the respective groups, differences 
in entity structure and jurisdiction must be taken into account.
The legal structure behind ICO projects is often 
not clear. In many cases foundations, which cannot 
distribute raised funds, are used
Current lack of common standards impedes 
transparency  information in whitepapers is usually 
insufficient for proper assessments
Currency serving as medium of 
exchange and/or store of value
Fiat currencies
Financial instruments
CURRENCY TOKENS
ASSET TOKENS
UTILITY TOKENS
Tokenised shares, debt or other investment 
contracts on the blockchain, allowing issuers 
to forego regulated financial markets
Exchange medium within the crypto-economy  
of specific projects
Prepaid software /  
service fees
Token holders currently have no rights to participate 
in corporate decisions
No influence on personnel set-up of entities 
by token holders
Stage-explained
Communication standards
Description
Analogy
Type
Participation in decision-making
Management supervision
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on proprietary data.
STATUS QUO
Governance is the lifeblood of blockchain. This is not simply 
a technology, but a movement founded upon the principle 
of creating the means to decentralise power and give it 
back to the people through technology.
At Aragon, we seek to provide the tools to empower 
people across the world to easily and securely manage 
the structure of communities and organisations. We have 
begun to see progress made towards creating these 
decentralised structures. In Malta, the government has 
begun to enable people to run legal cryptocurrency 
projects and exchanges, while, in Switzerland, lawmakers 
are integrating decentralised systems into existing practices.
As a result, there is evidence that decentralised systems, 
representative of the same legal structure that a body, 
corporation, or government already had, can be 
implemented. This evidence suggests that we are moving 
to a future where there are simply decentralised digital 
structures, but we are not there yet.
I believe that a critical barrier to the widespread adoption 
of blockchain technology is solving the issue of the 
potential for volatility and instability. In our own community 
of governance, the memory of the hacking of the DAO 
has meant that the word DAO has become a taboo. 
Meanwhile, everyday users have a persistent and real  
fear of losing their money in cryptocurrencies. Visa's  
choice to end its relationship with WaveCrest, a card 
provider associated with crypto-wallets, left thousands  
of people out of pocket.
To remedy this volatility, we must begin to instil greater 
transparency into the blockchain ecosystem. The failure 
of the DAO came as a result of someone developing a 
token sale where the code left an entry point that obscured 
a backdoor allowed to extract funds. Only experts with 
substantial technical knowledge might have had any 
chance of spotting this backdoor. People simply did not 
have the time or ability to fully evaluate the nuances of  
the network, which led to someone being able to take  
the money and run.
There are, however, projects that are doing a lot of good 
work to create fully transparent blockchain technologies. 
Santiment's Project Transparency has begun to build a 
system for its community to safely and securely trade 
cryptocurrencies, while MakerDAO has been setting an 
excellent example of creating a stable, transparent 
digital currency.
Through the Aragon community, we have also sought to  
build a transparent network from the ground up. From the 
outset, we focused on our own community governance 
model, laying out the ways in which we would incorporate 
the community in the decision making.
This begins with setting out the code base on a public open 
source and continues through monthly meetings on online 
forums and live streams. We also produce quarterly reports 
that outline how we have used our funds. Underpinning this 
all, we have our transparency framework  a transparency 
code that allows anyone to view transactions that have 
been taking place in our network.
Providing the community with this information helps them 
to make better decisions and moves us towards a system 
where the network has the power. Ultimately, we will move 
to a point where we cannot control the actions that take 
place on Aragon. However, we will have sustained the true 
lifeblood of the blockchain  governance.
Tatu Krki 
Communications Lead Aragon
BLOCKCHAIN  
GOVERNANCE  
DAO and more
CHAPTER 4
37
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
36
CONSENSUS EFFICIENCY
Overdue transition to Proof of Stake
KEY TOPICS
 PoS is a central component in many efforts to improve scalability.
 Major protocol changes on running blockchains, such as transitioning to a new consensus mechanism,  
are difficult to implement and bear risks.
 Final implementation of first switch from PoW to PoS on large scale protocol is still outstanding. Ethereum  
is currently testing Casper (PoS mechanism) in some shards of its blockchain.
 Miners in PoW-based ecosystems are likely to oppose transitions to PoS. For Ethereum, this might lead  
to further hard forks. 
Major protocols, including the 
Bitcoin blockchain, operate under 
PoW, Switching public protocols 
from PoW to PoS is complex due to 
the major changes in code required.
PoW rewards miners for solving difficult 
computational problems that secure 
and validate every new block.
If a single party provides the majority 
of all mining power it can effectively 
'take control' of the entire blockchain 
in what is called a 51% attack. This 
becomes a relevant threat in the 
presence of centralised mining pools.
The incentive structure for validators 
in PoS-based blockchains makes 51% 
attacks highly unlikely.
However, the consensus mechanism 
is fairly novel and subject to other 
security issues. There are proposed 
solutions for most of these problems 
which are yet to be tested.
PoS requires validators to 'stake' 
a certain amount of their tokens 
to validate new blocks. This stake 
effectively serves as collateral and 
incentive to validate in line with the 
underlying protocol. 
Many younger protocols, such as 
NEO and WAVES, already operate 
under PoS.
Description & 
functionality
Security
Transaction cost
Validation speed
Source: GP Bullhound analysis based on proprietary data.
HIGH
STATUS QUO
LOW
HIGH
LOW
Proof of Work
Proof of Stake
Transition to 
PoS via Casper 
currently ongoing
Transition to 
PoS via 
Casper 
currently 
ongoing
OUTLOOK 
Final remarks
CHAPTER 4
38
39
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
We define corporate ICO as the transition of a 
formerly private and permissioned chain onto a 
public blockchain. This ICO will also likely be the 
first ICO based upon a consortium chain which 
will see several corporates join forces in a private, 
permissioned blockchain before setting the protocol 
free for the wider universe of early adopters. The 
automotive, raw materials or luxury goods sector 
might be the most likely industries driving such 
a project.
People will become more cautious towards second 
generation protocols. Aspirational upstarts such as 
Dfinity, RChain, Cardano and Tezos will have to do 
much more than simply technically outperform to  
win market share. They will, however, keep the 
pressure on Ethereum to implement long overdue 
changes. Ethereum will keep its position as the 
clear leader and become the most valuable 
cryptocurrency by market cap.
2018 will see widespread usage of token airdrops.
Since token issuing should be seen as the means to
create network effects, a sale of tokens with no utility
value seems unsustainable. An airdrop may be a
preferable option to include current and future
stakeholders and maximize network effects. 2018
efforts will aim to ensure the best possible distribution
and allocation, since early airdrop models show an
ability to create immediate impact and exceptional
growth stories.
ICO funding is here to stay 
but it will mature significantly 
and rapidly
2018 will see the first               
corporate ICO
2018 will see a number of 
important hard forks and first 
attempts at M&A activity
Mass market wipe out
No next generation 
beast protocol in sight
2018 will see airdrops 
become new normal 
for token distribution
The next killer app
Smart money will keep 
dominating blockchain
THE YEAR IN BLOCKCHAIN
GP Bullhound Outlook
No longer will companies be able to launch an ICO 
off the back of a whitepaper. Exceptions confirm 
the rule where the stage of the company or product 
will be largely meaningless versus the size of the ICO 
itself. We expect to see several giant ICOs far beyond 
Telegram's USD 2bn round by April 2019. Key for 
success will be execution track-record, transparency 
and credibility of founders. Elon Musk would qualify 
for such a raise. 
The mechanisms around forking will mature 
significantly including activities that resemble  
"hostile takeovers" and "activist hedge funds". 
Much like early M&A deals in the 1980s, protocol 
ecosystems will likely develop by means of hard 
forks together with friendly investor support, raising 
stakeholder awareness, leveraging developer talent 
and smart airdrop strategies. Since the code is public, 
potential counter measures within the code are 
entirely transparent.
Finally, cryptocurrencies will experience a heavy 
correction of up to 90 per cent in the next 12 months 
and very few companies will survive this correction. 
While this correction will be critical to cutting through 
the hype, its lack of impact on financial institutions will 
create new phenomena that we have never seen 
in any previous bubble burst. Nonetheless, once this 
'crypto-winter' passes, the growth dynamics for the 
precious few survivors will be unprecedented.
After the ICO as the first killer app in 2017, 2018 will 
be defined by asset tokens or tokenization of assets 
("TOA") offerings, also strongly driving the adoption 
of Ethereum for financial applications.  This will  
cause the cryptocurrency market to spike rapidly 
and peak at a total market cap far beyond USD 1 
trillion and the volume of tokenized assets will exceed 
ICO volumes of 2018. At the same time, non-fungible 
tokens will conquer the blockchain and create  
the first use cases capable of driving mass  
consumer adoption. 
Venture capital is not going anywhere. However, 
we believe that there needs to be a paradigm 
shift. The industry must aspire to a more inclusive 
and idealistic form of VC investing that supports 
founders with the knowledge and expertise to 
execute successful distributed ledger technologies. 
Average equity funding pre-ICO will rise to over 
USD 20m for successful ICOs in 2018.
CHAPTER 5
1
8
2
5
3
6
4
7
41
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
40
CREATING THE INTERNET OF VALUE
Applications for blockchain
Internet of 
Information
Internet of 
Things
Internet of 
Value
Exchange of 
information 
(based on 
Internet  
protocol)
Connectivity 
of devices 
(based on 
specific 
protocols)
Creation of 
digital assets 
(based on 
blockchain 
protocols)
Key issues where 
distributed ledger 
technologies  
add value
EVOLVEMENT OF FUNCTIONALITIES OF THE INTERNET
SELECTED NEAR-TERM USE CASES & COMPARABLE MARKET
FUNGIBLE TOKEN USE CASES
NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN USE CASES
While the majority of the market has clearly focused on fungible token applications so far, we have seen first use cases 
being created via non-fungible tokens. Non-fungible tokens have mostly emerged in the collectibles space in form of 
e.g. Cryptokitties. We expect the non-fungible phenomenon to spread outside of the collectibles space and find use in 
further blockchain applications. Blockchain applications for ownership and identity solutions will only be fully enabled by 
non-fungible token models.
Fundraising
Token distribution through 
ICOs as an independent 
means of raising funds
Tokenisation of assets
Tokens backed by real 
assets (debt, real estate, 
commodities, art, etc.)
Exchanges
Decentralised trading  
and settlement of tokens 
and tokenised assets 
Collectibles 
Unique digital assets with 
intrinsic value properties 
(e.g. sports cards, 
cryptokitties, etc.)
Ownership record
Tokens as ownership record 
for specific assets (e.g. real 
estate, luxury goods, cars)
Identity record
Personal records and 
identifying data, verifiable 
through unique tokens
USD 86bn
Global venture capital 
funding (2017)
USD 800tn
Global structured products 
issuance (2017 est.) 
USD 75tn
Global stock trading 
volume (2016) 
USD 200bn
Annual spend on 
collectibles (2016, global)
USD 660bn
Real estate transactions 
(2016, global)
USD 16bn
Identity theft damages 
(2016, US only)
CHAPTER 5
Source: Worldbank, JLL, Javelin Strategy & Research, Business Insider
COMMENT
Surge in blockchain popularity
Over the past year, the world has become  
obsessed with blockchain technology. While the  
tech itself is not new, experts admit that its mass 
adoption could be compared to the rise  
of the internet in the 1990s.
Blockchain technology bears a potential that is  
hard to evaluate in its amplitude. It offers to change 
our everyday lives in a multitude of ways, from  
the way we buy and sell to the way we participate  
in politics and state governance.  
Promising to erase intermediaries and borders,  
the technology suggests a new definition of trust  
and transparency, that will impact both our  
online and offline lives.
Sebastian N. Markowsky 
GP Bullhound
Need for decentralisation
Need for transparency
Need for immutability
Need for viable smart contract 
functionality
43
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
42
We took an in-depth look at the state of blockchain technology to date. Areas of focus were 
funding of blockchain projects, both from venture capital investors and through ICOs, and key 
issues that will determine the success and adaptation of the technology going forward. Our goal 
is to provide an overview of relevant characteristics and key trends in the blockchain sector and 
offer insights into what is currently happening with regards to base protocol developments and 
show promising distributed ledger concepts and people that will likely shape the future 
development of the technology.
INVESTMENTS
Through our investment team, we provide investors with 
access to the most ambitious privately-held technology and 
media companies. We  currently manage four closed-end 
funds for a total value of USD 100m and our Limited Partners 
include institutions, family offices and entrepreneurs.
EVENTS & RESEARCH
Our events and speaking activities bring together thousands 
of Europe's leading digital entrepreneurs and technology 
investors throughout the year. Our  thought-leading research 
is read by thousands of decision-makers globally and is 
regularly cited in leading newspapers and publications.
METHODOLOGY
ABOUT US
GP Bullhound
GP Bullhound is a leading technology advisory and investment firm, providing transaction advice 
and capital to some of the best entrepreneurs and founders. Founded in 1999,the firm today has 
offices in London, San Francisco, Stockholm, Berlin, Manchester, Paris, Hong Kong, Madrid and 
New York.
WE HAVE INCLUDED:
Companies developing proprietary blockchain technology 
and related services comprising smart contract functionality 
and where the public and decentralised nature of the 
planned blockchain project will benefit from a token 
distribution event.
We have not looked at permissioned blockchain 
companies, protocol technologies or projects. Our 
analysis of venture capital funding is mainly based on 
publicly available data and Pitchbook. Data on ICO 
rounds was sourced from various online databases  
as well as the relevant whitepapers.
We focused on funding rounds between 2015 and 2017. 
ICO performance analyses exclude companies with less 
than USD 1m funds raised.
CAVEATS: Our sources only include public data (e.g. press 
articles, public databases and websites). The accuracy of 
the data sets underlying our analysis is therefore limited to 
the disclosed data.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
We act as a trusted adviser to many of Europe's  leading 
technology companies in competitive international sale 
and acquisition processes. The firm has completed 380 
successful M&A transactions to date, worldwide, with a  
total value of over USD 17bn.
CAPITAL TRANSACTIONS
We advise companies and their owners on capital related 
transactions including venture capital, growth capital, 
acquisition funding, secondary block trades and Initial 
Public Offerings. The firm has completed 110 rounds of 
financing for technology companies to date, with a total 
value of USD 1.4bn.
SEBASTIAN MARKOWSKY 
Director
HANNES FELSBERG 
Analyst
SIMON MIREMADI 
Associate
BULAT MARDANOV 
Analyst
ELENA BOCHAROVA 
Analyst
FELIX LUTJEN 
Intern
OUR METHODOLOGY AND SOURCES
AUTHORS
Special thanks to Joe Lubin and the ConsenSys-Team, Prof. 
Emin Gn Sirer, Peter Czaban, MacLane Wilkison and Tatu 
Krki, our interview partners featured in this report.
Big thank you also to the further contributors to the report that 
have provided great insights themselves or been instrumental 
in providing access to the knowledge carriers in the space: 
Jan Karnath, Hugo Amsellem, Bernino Lind, Konstantinos 
"Dino" Mihalopoulos, Stefan George, Gero Decker, 
Fabio Federici, Philipp Moehring, Mikko Alasarella, Fabian 
Vogelsteller, Alex Felix, John Quinn, Mali Marafini, Stefano 
Bernardi, Lorenzo Sanna, Robert Henker, Adrian Fako, Gavin 
McDermott, Kaan Narin, Kai Chan, Barren Jeter, Eli Turlington, 
James Knight. Thanks a million and looking forward to exciting 
times ahead with all of you.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CHAPTER 5
45
GP BULLHOUND: TOKEN FRENZY
44
HUGH 
CAMPBELL 
Managing Partner
 
CLAUDIO 
ALVAREZ 
Partner
 
SIMON 
NICHOLLS 
Partner
 
ALESSANDRO 
CASARTELLI 
Director
 
JAVED 
HUQ 
Vice President
 
PAUL 
GAILLARD 
Associate
 
JAIME 
SENDAGORTA 
Associate
 
PIERCE 
LEWIS-OAKES 
Analyst
 
JACOB 
LOVENSKIOLD 
Analyst
 
MATHILDE 
JAKOBSSON 
Event Manager
 
SETH 
ALPERT 
Senior Advisor
 
ANN GREVELIUS 
Senior Advisor
 
CHRISTIAN 
LAGERLING 
Co-founder & 
Senior Advisor
MIKE 
MORTELL 
Senior Advisor
 
CECILIA ROMAN 
Senior Advisor
 
REDA BEN 
LARBI 
Analyst
 
ELENA 
BOCHAROVA 
Analyst
 
KYLE 
BOOYSENS 
Analyst
 
CARL 
ELFVING 
Analyst
 
JOFFREY 
EZERZER 
Analyst
 
HANNES 
FELSBERG 
Analyst
 
HAMPUS 
HELLERMARK 
Analyst
 
CHRISTOPH 
GRUNEWALD 
Associate
 
OKAN 
INALTAY 
Associate
 
MARVIN 
MAERZ 
Associate
 
SIMON 
MIREMADI 
Associate
 
ADAM 
PAGE 
Associate
 
DIPAM 
PATEL 
Associate
 
ED 
PRIOR 
Associate
 
OLOF 
RUSTNER 
Vice President
 
JOY 
SIOUFI 
Vice President
 
JOHANNES 
KERMARK 
Vice President
 
KARL 
BLOMSTERWALL 
Associate
 
FELIX 
BRATELL 
Associate
 
MATTHEW 
FINEGOLD 
Associate
 
IMAN 
CRISBY 
Vice President, 
Marketing
 
RAVI 
GHEDIA 
Vice President
 
ERIC 
CROWLEY 
Vice President
 
FRAENZE 
GADE 
Vice President, 
Events
 
DAVE 
NISH 
Vice President, 
Technology
 
CHRIS 
PARK 
Vice President
 
OSKAR 
HERDLAND 
Director, ECM
 
NICK 
HORROCKS 
Director
 
ELSA 
HU 
Director
 
ALON 
KUPERMAN 
Director
 
PER 
LINDTORP 
Director
 
SEBASTIAN 
MARKOWSKY 
Director
 
NIKOLAS 
WESTPHAL 
Director
 
CHRIS 
GRAVES 
Executive Director
 
MIGUEL  
KINDELAN 
Executive Director
 
CARL 
WESSBERG 
Executive Director
 
OLIVER 
SCHWEITZER 
Executive Director
 
ALEXIS 
SCORER 
Executive Director
 
JONATHAN 
CANTWELL 
Director
 
GUILLAUME 
BONNETON 
Partner
 
ALEC 
DAFFERNER 
Partner
 
JOAKIM 
DAL 
Partner
 
SVEN 
RAEYMAEKERS 
Partner
 
JULIAN 
RIEDLBAUER 
Partner
 
ANDRE 
SHORTELL 
Partner
 
GREG 
SMITH 
Partner
 
MANISH 
MADHVANI 
Managing Partner
 
PER 
ROMAN 
Managing Partner
 
SIR MARTIN 
SMITH 
Chairman
 
STAFFAN 
INGEBORN 
Non-Executive 
Director
 
MARK 
SEBBA 
Non-Executive 
Director
 
GRAEME 
BAYLEY 
Partner & 
Group CFO
 
ROBERT 
AHLDIN 
Partner
 
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CHAPTER 5
DISCLAIMER
ADAM  
BIRNBAUM 
Director
 
BEN  
PRADE 
Director
 
BULAT 
MARDANOV 
Analyst
 
RACHAEL  
SHAPIRO 
Analyst
 
OUR TEAM
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Vice President, 
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46
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