There are tens of thousands of digital currencies, there are different types of cryptocurrencies and a good handful are added to the list every day. But… where do all these digital currencies come from and who creates them?
Cryptocurrencies can be created as part of a joint effort by a company or organization (like Ripple), or as a solo project, like Bitcoin, created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto.
How to launch a cryptocurrency
In the first case, to launch a cryptocurrency as part of a company or organization, an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) is needed, while in the second case, it is enough to launch the project on your own. Here it is detailed in more depth:
What is an ICO
Many startups linked to the world of Blockchain decide to launch a token to finance themselves in what is known as ICO, Initial Coin Offering. A token is nothing more than a cryptocurrency linked to a digital business project, something like a kind of share that can grant voting or governance rights, access a service or grant dividends.
But the main idea is that a startup can raise funds with a token that, if everything goes well and what was promised, could appreciate in value, making those people who supported the company by purchasing the ICO benefit.
There are many cases of successful ICOs in the crypto world. The most important, without a doubt, is the creation of Ethereum. In 2014, Ethereum raised $18.6 million and the leading platform for smart-contracts and decentralized finance was born. The Ethereum ICO offered ETH at 31 cents…a price well below its ATH of $4,946 reached in August 2025.
This is also the case of Binance, which launched its Token at about 15 cents which became a central piece of its ecosystem. Filecoin, Polkadot, Chainlink…the list of ICOs that raised millions and offered a solid product is long.
But there is an even longer list; the list of ICOs that failed or that were directly scams. The success of ICOs like Ethereum created a bubble of these types of financing methods that evaporated billions of dollars.
Some because they got caught up in a tangle of regulatory and legal problems, like Kin ; others because they delivered a product that was far from the expectations that were created, like EOS... and others because they took the money and ran; as in the case of Bit Connect, become the meme par excellence of ICOs
How to launch your own cryptocurrency
But not all cryptocurrencies come from an ICO. Anyone can create their own token and although the complexity can be as high as the creator wants, in reality it is not even necessary to know how to program.
Some smart contract blockchain networks, such as Ethereum or Solana, allow their users to create tokens based on these networks. The easy version is to use an already built platform (like Orion) to create a token without writing a single line of code. It's as simple as choosing a token name, a supply, and providing liquidity.
But as easy as it may seem, creating a token or memecoin is one thing, but creating a legitimate cryptocurrency project is a very different story, so It is imperative to be well informed (and trained) before entering this world.
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