The All ICO Checklist

Disclaimer

This list was compiled based on different sources in open internet. If you find some information from your source I will be glad to add link and your license.

Motivation

There are a lot of different resources which describe different aspects of preparation and doing of ICO. But they are too verbose. We needed just aggregated information in form of check-list to be sure we are following to the best practices (not sure if they exist).

Structure

Information below should not be treated as standard or complete guide to ICO. It is knowledge base based on community experience.

Deliverables

After applying this list to your idea you could have:

• Answers to the questions - it would help you better understand you needs and plan your activity;
• Position paper structure and knowledge of required content. A Position paper is a clear 3-4 pages argument that you are trying to make that is supported by your technology proposal. Useful to present to your investors during pre-ICO stage;
• Whitepaper structure and knowledge of required content. A Whitepaper details specifically how you propose your technology will actually work. It is absolutely necessary to have it before ICO;
• Yellow paper structure and knowledge of required content. A Yellow paper, or a second “technical” white paper, that will take much of the first two papers and actually present in scientific detail the technology and the innovations that have created, or propose to create. In many cases the technology is tested and/or peer reviewed. It is desired to have it during ICO or after success ICO as first document exposed to investors.

Checklist columns

1. Category - group of questions. Could be used as article/sections in your document. It is not obligatory to use the order of articles;
2. Question - you need to answer before or during pre-ICO, ICO and the next steps. Order of the questions is not so important (only if next question references to previous);
3. Position paper - answer and high level description should be included into a Position paper;
4. Whitepaper - answer and description should be included into a Whitepaper;
5. Yellow paper - answer and detailed technical description should be included into a Yellow paper.

Checklist

Category	Question	Position paper	Whitepaper	Yellow paper
Generic	Is position paper ready?
Generic	Is whitepaper ready?
Generic	Is yellow paper needed and ready?
Introduction	What are business cases?	x
Introduction	How will your offer fit into existing laws?	x
Introduction	Which residents are allowed to participate in the ICO?	x
Introduction	Does you have a good marketing and promotion team?
Introduction	What are Ethics or Code of Conduct?	x
Executive summary	What is protocol?			x
Executive summary	What are elementary components?		x	x
Executive summary	What is structure of document?		x	x
Problem statement	What is the main problem to solve?		x	x
Problem statement	What are industries meeting such problems?		x
Problem statement	What is prediction for problem importance?		x
Proposed solution	How will solution address the problems mentioned above?		x	x
Proposed solution	Is your technology a platform, really?
Proposed solution	What will your platform add to the crypto/blockchain community that isn’t already being served by someone else?	x
Proposed solution	Does your technology need it’s own token?	x
Product architecture	What do you have so far?		x	x
Product architecture	What is architecture of your system?			x
Product architecture	Who will be your first users?		x	x
Product architecture	What is development strategy?			x
Blockchain	Does your product need blockchain?	x
Blockchain	Why does your project need to be on the blockchain?	x
Blockchain	What advantages of the blockchain technology can your product enjoy?	x	x
Blockchain	What blockchain will you be using? From what blockchain will you fork?	x	x
Economics	Where the company will be registered?	x	x
Economics	What is product interaction with economy?	x	x
Economics	Is there a mechanism that links its value to the success of your product?	x
Economics	How much you want to raise?
Economics	What’s the use of funds?	x	x
Economics	Will the organization be executing token buy-backs?	x	x
Economics	How will profits be distributed from the project to the holders of the token, including management compensation?	x	x
Token	Why do you need blockchain tokens?
Token	Is the token absolutely necessary?
Token	What is the purpose of the token?	x
Token	What is type of token?	x
Token	What function or utility does it perform?	x
Token	How can you functionally link a blockchain token to a product?	x
Token	Can you integrate it into your app?
Token	How can your token be of interest to investors?	x
Token	Can you describe a viable economic model behind it?
Token	How easy participants can secure buy and hold tokens?	x
Tokens issue	What is the name of the token? What is the number of tokens? What is the starting price of the token?	x	x	x
Tokens issue	How many you will retain for the team and sell within the Pre-ICO and within the ICO?	x	x
Tokens issue	What are the events that trigger selling those tokens on the market (and does that represent trouble for the economics of your token)?		x	x
Tokens issue	What are technical provisions of commercialization?		x
Tokens issue	How will inflation be controlled?	x
Tokens issue	Whether and in which case you will issue additional tokens?	x
Tokens issue	What will be rewards and penalties?
Tokens issue	What will be token sale structure?	x
Tokens issue	When will the token be listed on an exchange?	x	x
Tokens issue	How will the organization interact with the token once it hits the market?		x	x
Smart contract	How many smart contracts do you need?	x
Smart contract	Who and how will do security audit on the smart contracts?
Smart contract	Were the smart contracts tested?
Smart contract	What wallets will be used to receive the ICO payments?	x
Legal & Compliance	What laws are applicable for this project, and how the project will be compliant with these law?		x
Legal & Compliance	What are Organizational chart and Legal entities chart?	x	x
Legal & Compliance	Description of other necessary foundation documents.		x
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have a high quality Regulator?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have a clear definition of a Cryptocurrency?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have clear Crowdfunding guidance?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have an Industry Advocacy Group(s)?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have the proper Corporate formations for your needs?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have a favourable tax policy?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have clear AML and KYC Guidelines?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have fair Data Privacy laws?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have efficient Infrastructure and access to talent?
Legal & Compliance	Does the jurisdiction have access and close proximity to key markets?
Team	Who are team members?	x	x	x
Team	Do these people know what they’re talking about?		x	x
Team	What were previous works of the team members?			x
Detailed technical description	What’s the development roadmap?	x	x	x
Detailed technical description	What platform do we need to develop our smart contract?	x	x	x
Detailed technical description	How tokens, accounts, blocks will be implemented?		x	x
Detailed technical description	How state channels will be implemented (smart contracts)?			x
Detailed technical description	Where the data will be stored?		x	x
Detailed technical description	What is consensus mechanism?		x	x
Detailed technical description	How will be implemented governance of blockchain?		x	x
Detailed technical description	How will blockchain scale?		x	x
Detailed technical description	User identification. Will they be anonymous? If not, how they will be identified?			x
Detailed technical description	How the information will be protected from hacking?		x	x
Detailed technical description	How will payments handle?		x	x
Detailed technical description	What are virtual machine and contract language?			x
Detailed technical description	What are limitations and tradeoffs?	x	x	x