They are not coins, saying so causes problems

The CEO of Binance, a digital coin exchange, gets this wrong:

Writing in a blog post titled “ICOs — Not Just ‘Good-to-Have,’ But Necessary,” Zhao praised the virtues of ICOs, explaining from first-hand experience that “raising money through ICOs is about 100 times easier than through traditional VCs.”
The supposed benefits that VCs provide startups, he argued, are far overblown, as most VCs have “no clue” about the projects they invest in or how to help a fledgling company get off the ground.

If I start a dairy business, coins do me no good,  ownership contracts are great.

That is the problem with Ripple and XRP. Ripple has great tech they have no need for a coin, they build liquidity on the fly with their notary system. What really works for Ripple is the crypto ownership contract except most of the industry is just now taking that baby step. The digital crypto contract with implied power of attorney is essential what Ripple is all about escrow net.  XRP is a disgusting pain in the ass for a good company, convert that to ownership contracts, make real liquidity as god intended.

On the other hand, every poker club in the world, all one million,  will be setting up a club poker chip on the poker site, powered by Microsoft Coco. None of them raising money, except on poker night.

The digital coin in ICO is a game.  The digital contract in IPO works the same, except we graduate to multi-step contracts. The IPO, done in crypto contracts is a very powerful tool, it allows shareholder  liquidity virtually anywhere.  The ownership contract is what is happening, we are graduating.