- Polkadot is running a second ICO, 18 months after $98 million worth of contributions was locked up
- A Party Network bug in November 2017 froze $155 million worth of Ethereum in total
- Investors will have to hold their tokens for five months
Polkadot will be hoping for a case of second time lucky with its recently-launched ICO, 18 months after its first attempt ended with $98 million worth of Ethereum contributions being locked by the Parity bug. Polkadot, a much-hyped project in 2017, is still highly thought of, and with the token sale coming with a five-month lockup, it will take true fans to buy up now right when the entire crypto market is looking as bullish as it is.
Parity Bug Locked Up $98 Million in ICO funds in 2017
Polkadot, a kind of interchange and translator between multiple blockchains, held its first ICO in October 2017, at the height of the ICO boom, raising $145 million for the project. however, the vast majority of this money was lost due to an error by a developer on the Parity network.
On November 8, 2017, Parity was upgraded following a hack five months prior that had seen over 150,000 ETH stolen. Unfortunately the patch itself contained a vulnerability which was triggered by a user who accidentally deleted a code library from the Parity wallet. This resulted in 513,774 ETH held across 587 different wallets, worth approximately $155 million at the time, being frozen. At the time of writing, it is still inaccessible, despite efforts to unlock it with recent Ethereum upgrades.
As a result of the Parity error, Polkadot lost $98 million of the $145 million they raised. They were able to carry on with the remaining $47 million and now, 18 months after the loss and with a great deal of development under their belt, the team is ready to try again.
Polkadot ICO Participants Betting Against the Market
Having launched the token last year the market price of the Polkadot coin (DOT) is already known, currently around $175, and is being traded on exchanges. The team are keeping the Polkadot ICO price secret, and anyone wishing to participate in the second ICO has to sign an NDA so they don’t reveal the Polkadot price and will not get their hands on the token for five months after the ICO ends.
With the market performing as it is at the moment, buying tokens at this point is akin to placing a bet against the market for the rest of 2020. How many are willing to take this bet will directly impact what the team are able to raise this time round.
