What is Public Sale?

A public sale, or Initial Coin Offering (ICO), is typically the third and final funding round that a blockchain startup offers after the private sale and pre-sale rounds. Public sales are generally open to retail investors, large investors, and the general public with the only prerequisite to participation being registration and the provision of valid Know-Your-Customer (KYC) identification. ICOs gained widespread popularity in 2017 — corresponding with the 2017 crypto bull market — and while they still exist, ICOs have more recently evolved into other funding models including Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) and Initial DEX Offerings (IDO).