What the hell is an initial coin offering? Everyone is confused. Investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers across the globe are still trying to figure out what an ICO is, too.

An ICO is a bit like an initial public offering, from which its name derives, it’s also something else entirely new.

The process of creating a new cryptocurrency and then selling it to investors in order to raise money for development work is evolving quickly, thanks to a combination of regulatory pressure and technological innovation.

ICOs have raised huge amounts of cash: more than $23 billion since 2014. An animation put together by the blockchain data analysis firm Elementus, above, shows just how explosive the field has been so far.