Underpricing in Initial Coin Offerings: An Empirical Study on Ex-ante Uncertainty

This thesis aims to establish the determinants of underpricing ininitial coin offerings (ICO). It is hypothesized that the lowertheuncertainty about the future value of the venturebefore the ICO (ex-ante uncertainty), the lowerthe underpricing. In a sample of 582 exchange listed ICOs, I show that underpricing is significant and positive. Furthermore, I find that information conveyance proxies are only partially significant determinants of underpricing, whereas proxies related to quality signaling efforts of the tokenissuer are significantly related to underpricing. This thesis contributes to existing research in the field of cryptocurrencies, by empirically studying the relationship between uncertainty and underpricing in ICOs.