%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2020 %T Fundraising Campaigns in a Digital Economy: Lessons from a Swiss Synthetic Diamond Venture's Initial Coin Offering (ICO) %A Jahja Rrustemi %A Nils S. Tuchschmid %K Bitcoin %K blockchain %K crowdfunding %K crypto assets %K cryptocurrencies %K distributed ledger technology %K entrepreneurial finance %K Ethereum %K Financial industry %K FinTech %K ICOs %K IEO %K moral hazard. %K signaling %K STO %K token offering %K token sales %K tokenization %K venture capital %X As economies digitalize and many local businesses gradually internationalize, crowdfunding platforms have offered a new way for ventures to raise capital. Relying on distributed ledger technology (DLT, blockchain), the method of "tokenization" now seems to be the next way for digital economics to be actualised in practise. Digitalizing some of the production and selling processes through crypto-tokenization technology has brought with it new perspectives and opportunities. Any thorough consideration of the logic of "distributed systems" applied to economics is bound to see that it potentially brings considerable disruptions and significant changes in how companies get access to funding. Cryptocurrencies, and subsequently "tokens" initially issued from "initial coin offerings" (ICOs) have answered an obvious need for efficient, borderless, and secure flows of capital. This article first summarizes what early academic research tells us about ICOs based on DLTs and their factors of success. We then use the case of LakeDiamond, a Swiss venture in the business of growing and polishing synthetic diamonds, to present and contextualize the process of holding an ICO, which ultimately did not succeed. In the final section, we present two fund raising models that have recently gained traction and popularity, namely "security token offerings" (STOs) and "initial exchange offerings" (IEOs), and highlight their main advantages compared to ICOs. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 10 %P 53-63 %8 06/2020 %G eng %U timreview.ca/article/1368 %N 6 %1 Haute Ecole de Gestion Fribourg (HEG-FR) Jahja Rrustemi is a scientific collaborator at the Haute Ecole de Gestion Fribourg (HEG-FR), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland. He holds a Master of Science in Wealth Management at the University of Geneva. The main focus of his research relates to Portfolio Allocation Methods, Risk Minimization, Forward-looking Risk Measures as well as Cryptocurrencies and the Tokenization of the economy. %2 Haute Ecole de Gestion Fribourg (HEG-FR) Nils S. Tuchschmid is professor of Finance and head of the Finance Institute at the Haute Ecole de Gestion Fribourg (HEG-FR), University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland. Before joining HEG-FR, Nils was a Partner, Head of Tactical Trading Strategies and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Tages Group. Previously, he was the Co-Head of the Alternative Funds Advisory team at UBS and Head of Multi-Manager Portfolios at Credit-Suisse. He also worked as Strategist and Head of quantitative research and alternative investments at Banque Cantonale Vaudoise. Nils was Professor of Banking and Finance at HEG Geneva and Professor of Finance at HEC Lausanne University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Geneva. %& 53 %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/1368