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Bitcoin’s gain over the past decade has enormously outperformed the S&P 500, the Nasdaq Composite and even gold. The digital asset has minted millionaires, but after bitcoin gained nearly 41,000% from May 2015 to May 2025, some crypto investors are turning to altcoins in the hopes of replicating those high returns.
Enter crypto launchpads. These platforms allow crypto enthusiasts to find initial coin offerings (ICOs) and initial DEX offerings (IDOs), which can provide exposure to altcoins — cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin — that may spike in the short term. While it’s possible that some crypto launchpads’ upcoming ICOs and IDOs will become highly valuable for long-term investors, most of these assets lose value over time.
Few assets will ever have a chance of reproducing bitcoin’s returns, especially in the crypto landscape. However, for speculative investors looking to do so, exploring crypto launchpads — such as ethereum launchpads and solana launchpads — for upcoming ICOs and IDOs may hold the key.
An ICO occurs when an investor raises enough funds to launch a new cryptocurrency. It’s similar to initial price offerings (IPOs) for publicly traded corporations. Some ICOs generate plenty of traction and then fizzle out shortly after the cryptocurrency becomes a publicly traded asset — just like how some stock IPOs do.
The reason is because many ICOs are purely speculative, pump-and-dump schemes. However, there are some ICOs that give the founders enough money to support a blockchain or service, thereby establishing intrinsic value. Ethereum, for instance, is an attractive blockchain due to its availability of smart contracts, which are immutable and offer robust security measures.
Importantly, most cryptocurrencies undergoing ICOs have lock-up periods — fixed terms during which investors, ICO team members or early token holders cannot sell or transfer their crypto assets. These lock-up periods typically range from one to two years, meaning investors cannot offload those assets until that period comes to a close.
An IDO, similar to an ICO, allows a company or project to raise money with tokens. However, IDOs do not rely on public markets and can raise funds for their founders through decentralized markets.
A key difference with IDOs is that you can immediately sell tokens. There is no lock-up period when you buy a token that is a part of an IDO. These opportunities are only available in decentralized markets.
A decentralized platform results in lower trading fees and instant liquidity. The lack of a third party can make the crypto experience more seamless for some investors.
The best crypto investors keep their eyes open for attractive opportunities, and they regularly turn to crypto launchpads for new ideas. These are some of the top platforms that can help you find upcoming ICOs and IDOs.
Best Wallet is a provider of crypto wallets, but it also serves as a crypto launchpad that allows users to gain exclusive early access through its Upcoming Tokens feature. The platform selects tokens based on a comprehensive review of projects’ whitepapers and tokenomics.
Once the team at Best Wallet has identified a viable offering, it allows users to buy at Phase 0 before sales go fully live, thereby ensuring the best purchase price. Investors can access these offerings through the Best Wallet app, which also provides information on a token’s current stage price, its roadmap and its official launch date.
ICO Drops is a crypto launchpad that lets you see active and upcoming ICOs and dig deeper into each coin or token. Investors can see how much money has been raised to that point, how the founders of the project allocate capital and who some of the top investors are.
You can also set up filters to find ICOs based on venture capital funds, how much they have raised, meme potential and other factors. Investors can also discover ICOs that recently closed and see how much money they were able to raise.
ICO Hot List narrows its focus to ICOs that are generating the most buzz — a nice perk since these coins are often driven by social media hype and virality. The platform allows you to see a brief description of each project as well as the start of its ICO and the last day you can get early exposure to these digital coins. Investors can also browse active, upcoming and past ICOs.
Coin Launch features ICOs, IDOs, initial exchange offerings (IEOs) and other opportunities. The crypto launchpad platform prominently displays the hottest picks and also allows creators and startups to advertise their listings for additional exposure. Coin Launch also releases educational articles on cryptocurrencies and the economy.
You can filter ICOs, IDOs and IEOs that are upcoming, active or in the past. While this is a normal feature among ICO platforms, Coin Launch also has a separate section that lists scam ICOs. It shows notorious crypto projects that went horribly wrong for the investors, which serves as a warning of the risks involved with these types of investments.
For example, Coin Launch lists Mushe, Mehracki and RobotEra as some of the cryptocurrencies that had raised over $1 million before going bust. The platform also has a pre-sales/whitelists section, with other investment opportunities to consider.
Investing in ICOs and IDOs can produce immense gains if you pick the right cryptocurrencies and time your exits accordingly. However, a lot of details have to go smoothly to maximize profits and avoid losses.
Some ICOs and IDOs are complex pump-and-dump schemes that only ensure high profits for early investors. Some of these coins have zero utility and are speculative in nature. Liquidity can also present an issue, with some ICO and IDO projects not easily able to be converted back into cash or other cryptos in a timely manner.
Investors who accumulate digital coins in ICOs and IDOs should only invest as much money as they are willing to lose. These investments aren’t suitable for people who are living paycheck to paycheck or who are aiming for wealth preservation. Investors shouldn’t view ICOs and IDOs as lottery tickets, either. Instead, they should assess a cryptocurrency based on its utility and long-term potential.
You can still get exposure to the crypto industry through bitcoin. However, if you want to find smaller coins that can potentially multiply quicker than bitcoin now will, you may want to monitor the ICO and IDO markets.
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