As Brendan points out, this overinflates the actual value of these networks by orders of magnitude, leaving the overall state of the ICO and VC (at least those that are token focused) landscape within "crypto" extremely fragile.
I'm not very well educated on the nuances and mechanics of an IEO, but it seems like exchanges are making it easy for projects to facilitate an ICO-like offering. Essentially taking on all the grunt work for these projects and making it easier to scam retail.
The main similarity being the presence of "experts" who proclaimed to retail investors and the masses at large that these new forms of organizing and raising funds (ICOs) were as revolutionary as the Internet itself.
This whole god damn "industry" has bastardized the concept of a white paper. These days, one needs to vigorously filter their white paper consumption as to avoid the slew of putrid trash that passes as academic prose.
What I'm really looking for is the mass layoff moment at Consensys, the marketing / VC arm of Ethereum that is the poster child of the excess of this illogical mania built of buzzwords and technobabble.
