Last week saw the culmination of the Token-as-a-Service (TaaS) crowdsale, adding another $7.9 mln of value to the crypto ICO phenomenon.
TaaS, which describes itself as the “world’s first-ever closed-end fund dedicated entirely to Blockchain assets,” subsequently began trading on two exchanges: Livecoin and Ukraine’s Kuna.
3,769 investors participated in the sale, with any unpurchased tokens from the original 101,000,000 supply being burnt.
Despite the sizeable amount collected, which included 3,450 BTC and 45,000 ETH, TaaS’ offering was overshadowed by the recent giant funds collections from Gnosis and iEx.ec.
Organizers also faced criticism during the campaign, leading to an official statement in which they attempted to counter third-party misgivings about the “integrity of the fund.”
A website, ICOalert.com, originally produced a report claiming TaaS’ developers had “deep connections” to the investment platform BitUp, which it says has features that “resemble strongly characteristics and activities of High Yield Investment Platforms, more commonly known Ponzi Schemes.”
“TaaS is aware of the ICO Alert report and related rumors attacking the legitimacy of the fund and the integrity of its founding team and Board of Advisors,” it wrote in a blog post four days before the ICO ended.
“The report, fraught with inaccuracies and assumptions, discredits the tremendous efforts the TaaS team has and will continue to make to ensure the fund is successful and transparent.”
President and Co-Founder of TaaS Ruslan Gavrilyuk meanwhile commented in a press release about the ICO that he was “extremely pleased” with the reaction.
“The investment rate reflects the strong market demand for a platform that reduces the barriers to entry for investing in cryptocurrencies, a niche that TaaS has now filled,” he added.