This paper examines the impact of historical endowment on the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) market. Leveraging a sample of 1,617 hand collected ICOs over 2015-2019 and regressions models, we find that a country's legal origin, disease environment, exposure to slave trade, and proximity to ancient trade routes are important determinants of the total amount of capital raised through ICOs. Further analyses suggest that the impact of historical endowment operates through legal and information sharing institutions. This finding suggests that traumatic shocks in the history plays an important role in shaping current Fintech development through long-run persistence of formal and informal institutions. This research highlights the importance to enlarge the scope of Fintech research and the importance to take institutions into account in relevant policy designs to promote financial development.

本文研究了历史禀赋对首次代币发行 (ICO) 市场的影响。利用 2015-2019 年 1,617 手收集的 ICO 样本和回归模型，我们发现一个国家的法律起源、疾病环境、奴隶贸易的暴露程度以及与古代贸易路线的距离是通过 ICO 筹集的资金总额的重要决定因素. 进一步的分析表明，历史禀赋的影响通过法律和信息共享机构发挥作用。这一发现表明，历史上的创伤性冲击通过正式和非正式机构的长期存在，在塑造当前金融科技发展方面发挥着重要作用。