$10.4 Million: In-Game Item Exchange DMarket Raises New Funds in ICO

A blockchain project aiming to create a marketplace for virtual gaming items has raised more than $10 million in an initial coin offering (ICO).

The ICO for DMarket, which began last week, collected 26,935 ETH – an amount worth roughly $8.9 million at current prices – as well as 365 BTC, valued at approximately $1.5 million. And though DMarket's website doesn't list the number of contributors, it states that the sale drew 4,827 transactions over the several-day period.

DMarket is trying to bridge the worlds of blockchain and in-game items – specifically, the secondary market for digital assets in which gamers swap loot for money. That billion-dollar market has been targeted by more than a few entrepreneurs, who see the market for in-game items (as well as any other digital “things” that can be passed from one owner to the next) as an area of big growth looking ahead.

Social media posts suggest that DMarket's sale progressed largely without incident. However, a series of tweets indicates that members of the project's Slack channel were targeted by phishing attacks.

Security threats have honed in on other blockchain projects – particularly those that have conducted an ICO or preparing for one. Earlier today, members of the Slack channel for the Enigma project were tricked into contributing funds to a false "pre-sale," resulting in more than $500,000 in losses.

DMarket is planning to conduct a second token sale, which is set to take place in November. According to data from CoinDesk's ICO Tracker, the successful raise brings the total amount of funds collected through the ICO model – in which cryptographic tokens are sold to users as a way to bootstrap a network – one step closer to the $2 billion mark.

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