From the Wild West of 2017 to Utility-Driven Fundraising in 2025

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are starting to gain popularity again as a fundraising avenue for crypto projects. While most crypto natives who were around during the 2017 ICO era likely remember them as the “wild west” of crypto, this new wave of ICOs has evolved significantly – it is not defined by hype and speculation as was the case back then.

In this paradigm, crypto projects looking to raise funds through ICOs are more focused on the fundamental value of their innovations, which means paying attention to critical factors such as utility and compliance. As such, there have been several successful ICO raises in 2025, including Plasma and Pump.fun; both projects raised $500 million within minutes. 

The First Wave of ICOs: Lessons from 2017 

Before diving into 2025’s ICO trends, let’s take a step back to the 2017 era to better understand what crypto innovators are doing differently this time. 

The ICOs that launched during this period were characterized by quick riches, whitepapers without products and a lack of regulatory oversight. In hindsight, all these factors were a recipe for a huge bubble that was bound to burst. Nonetheless, crypto projects with shaky fundamentals raised over $13.5 billion between 2017 and 2018. 

The result? Regulators across the world took note, with the U.S. SEC embarking on severe crackdowns. China and South Korea also took harsh measures, altogether banning ICOs within their jurisdictions. These actions, coupled with a lack of sustainable value from the ICOs, saw over 90% of the projects that had raised funds disappear into oblivion. 

On the brighter side, these lessons have become a building block for the new era of ICOs. Projects have shifted focus from making a quick buck to building real solutions for the crypto market and beyond. 

A Shift From Speculation to Utility 

According to ICO Drops, there are currently 238 active ICOs; most of these are likely to fall short of their targeted amount of funds, but unlike 2017, a significant number of the projects have a solid value proposition. This is because users have become more aware of the demand for MVPs, proof of utility, and transparent governance before allocating their funds. 

A good example is the Pump.fun ICO, which raised $500 million in July 2025. Before hitting this milestone, Pump.fun had only been existent since January 2024; however, during this short period, the platform had already facilitated the launch of over 11.4 million token launches on the Solana ecosystem. It had also generated over $723 million in fees while touting 22 million unique users. These figures propelled Pump.fun to one of the most profitable DeFi platforms even before its ICO debut. 

The success of this particular ICO is evidence of what today’s ICO market looks like. It is no longer about 100x promises but a shift to utility-focused projects that are already proving their value or potential in onboarding the next wave of Web3 stakeholders. 

It is also worth noting that there have been significant advancements on the regulatory front, with countries like the U.S. now adopting regulatory frameworks that are geared towards advancing crypto innovations rather than stifling ideas. 

“The ICO topic is coming back now because smart founders, especially in the U.S., will no longer feel fear from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement after Donald Trump becomes president.” Fiskantes, pseudonymous partner at crypto venture firm Zee Prime Capital, told the Block in an interview, just before President Trump assumed office.  

What to Know Before Backing an ICO

While the ICO market has evolved from pump-and-dump schemes, it is still not a walk in the park to identify the right project. Users looking to take advantage of the new ICOs in 2025 ought to pay attention to several factors. 

Does the ICO have a solid value proposition? Some of the upcoming ICOs that are already gaining traction have a significant cutting edge over other their counterparts. One such example is True Trading, this project is building the world’s first AI-native DEX on Solana. The idea is to introduce the “ChatGPT for defi”, allowing anyone with basic prompting knowledge to trade like a pro through a conversational and AI-first trading environment, powered by its native token $TRUE.  

Another factor to consider is the amount of traction a particular ICO has gained, either through user acquisition, funding, or the users behind the project. Currently, there are several ICOs that tick this box, including Solaxy, a Solana L2 project with an ongoing ICO that has attracted over $58.13 million in funding. The token distribution process is ongoing, alongside a reward program meant to incentivize early buyers of the ICO. 

Regulatory certainty is equally important; any user would want to avoid a situation like the Telegram Open Network (TON), which raised $1.7 billion, only for the SEC to clamp it down. Luckily, times have changed, and it is now possible to conduct a proper due diligence on whether a particular ICO is within the regulatory scope.

Conclusion 

As mentioned in the introduction, ICOs are finding their footing again in the crypto market. While the trust may not be fully restored, the evolution from “get rich quick” stories and pure hype to projects with a clear, utility-first design and a working Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a trend to watch. More importantly, this new wave of ICOs is set to bring back crypto’s decentralized ethos on all aspects, including funding, which is currently dominated by VCs. A fair ground for projects to raise funds and retailers to gain early exposure to projects they deem fundamentally viable.