Acceptance of an initial coin offering for investment in a developing economy

Abstract

Initial coin offerings (ICOs), or token offerings, play a critical role in the digital economy as they are blockchain-based smart contracts used to raise funds by issuing cryptocurrency tokens (Momtaz, 2020). This research aims to study the factors affecting the acceptance of ICOs for investment and to study whether cognition in ICO investment affects decision-making in investment in Thailand. In this quantitative study, the data were collected from online questionnaires completed by a sample group of 402 Thai investors who currently invest in financial instruments, and then the data were analyzed using binary logistic regression. The findings revealed that income, the value of investing in financial instruments, saving, perception towards media, and cognition in investment have an influence on the acceptance of ICOs. The paper suggests that investors who are interested in investing in ICOs should study the risks of investment thoroughly before investing. Besides, relevant government agencies should clearly set the rules and regulations in order to protect the inventors and, in the meanwhile, the fundraising could not be obstructed as well.