ICO (Initial Coin Offering), STO (Security Token Offering), IEO (Initial Exchange Offering)
These are different types of “token sale”, in which a project sells a digital asset to fund development. ICOs, typically offering utility tokens, saw a major boom in 2017, but STOs, offering digital security tokens, might have more of a future, given the necessity of regulatory compliance.
IEOs do not represent the sale of a different class of digital asset, but the fact that a sale is conducted on a “launchpad” platform provided by a cryptocurrency exchange. Such launchpads make contributing to sales relatively easy. They provide a simple interface, rather than asking users to send assets directly to a smart contract address.
The Nash STO was held on our own launchpad platform, which we hope to make available for IEOs in the future.