An initial coin offering (ICO) is the term used to describe the method that a crypto firm or company utilizes to raise capital to fund a particular venture or project through the sale of its tokens. While an ICO is similar to the concept of raising capital by selling shares of stock, it is also different because the crypto firm is selling a digital asset (i.e. a token). The tokens can be utility tokens meaning the investor can use the tokens to access a product or a service or the tokens can be security tokens meaning the investor has some type of an investment stake. Another significant difference is that investors in ICOs do not generally have an ownership interest in the crypto firm, like a purchaser of common stock. Though this difference in investment may change with the advent of equity tokens. Yet, similar to owning stock, investors earn a return as a result of an increase in the value of their tokens, whether as utility or security token holders.