首次代幣發行(Initial coin offering，ICO)在近年來成為一種新型態的投資方式，新創企業透過將代幣出售給投資人以募集資金，而 ICO 白皮書是提供給潛在投資人最為重要的資訊來源。目前 ICO 白皮書並沒有強制規範揭露內容，ICO 發行方所揭露的內容可能不是投資方所在意的、或是刻意隱藏對發行方不利之資訊。因此發行方與投資方之間產生資訊不對稱，進一步影響募資成功的可能性。由於 ICO 涉及較多新技術，非具專業知識的投資人可能較難以理解其內容，低質量的 ICO 可能藉由模仿高質量的 ICO 的白皮書揭露資訊以混淆投資方，因此投資方會更注重於 ICO 白皮書揭露之特定內容。本研究使用隱含狄利克雷分布(Latent Dirichlet allocation，LDA)，LDA 是一種機率主題模型，本研究使用 LDA 對 ICO 白皮書內容進行主題分析，以 2017 年至 2020 年止共 1,024個 ICO 觀察值為樣本，研究結果發現當 ICO 白皮書內容敘述與區塊鏈技術、區塊鏈應用、ICO 資訊、金融服務相關的資訊越多時，募資到的金額越多。發行方在撰寫 ICO 白皮書內容時可以著重於特定主題的內容，降低發行方與投資方間的資訊不對稱，以提高投資者的投資意願。;Initial coin offering (ICO) has become a new type of investment method in recent years. New ventures raise capital by selling tokens to investors. The ICO whitepapers are the most important sources of information provided to potential investors. Since there is no mandatory standard for the contents in ICO whitepapers, the information disclosed by the issuer may not be interested by investors, or the issuer may deliberately conceal the unfavorable information. Information asymmetry between issuers and investors affects the possibility of ICO success. ICO whitepapers may be difficult for non-professional investors to understand due to the new technologies. Low-quality ICOs may confuse investors by imitating the content of high-quality ICO white papers. Therefore, investors will focus more on specific content in the ICO whitepaper. This study uses LDA, a probability topic model, to conduct topic analysis on the content of ICO whitepapers. I use 1,024 ICO observations from 2017 to 2020 as the sample. The results show that the more disclosures related to blockchain technology, blockchain applications, ICO information, and financial services in ICO whitepapers, the more funds are raised. To reduce the information asymmetry between the issuer and the investor and increase investors’ willingness to invest, the issuer can focus on specific topics when writing the ICO whitepaper.
