Gibraltar has already attracted “200” prospective ICOs ahead of the planned launch of its Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange (GBX), an official announced March 20.
Speaking to Financial Times, GBX chief executive Nick Cowan said that companies have shown huge interest in launching token sales under the British Overseas Territory’s band-new regulated ICO environment.
“GBX has to date been approached by up to 200 applicants seeking to launch their ICO through the Gibraltar Blockchain Exchange,” he said.
That number would almost equal the reported 210 ICOs which successfully launched in 2017, when the funding tool hit the mainstream and became a top priority for international regulators worried about fraud.
Gibraltar has been eyeing the creation of a foolproof conveyor for supporting only 100% legitimate ICO offerings for some time.
As plans cement, more information is slowly coming to light, Cowan noting that plans to have “accredited sponsors” draft all whitepapers have already attracted ten candidates. Three of these have already received permission to participate.
GBX is further “scaling up its regulatory team to cope with the demand to ensure it hits its target of five day turnaround on ICO applications for first response,” he added.
ICOs continue to face a tough landscape in many international jurisdictions. A US Congress hearing on cryptocurrencies last week yielded highly mixed responses from lawmakers, with one senator claiming 99% of startups launching ICOs were fraudulent.