CoinDesk reports that GEMS has crowdfunded approximately $110,000 on Koinify during the first stage of its pre-sale campaign which was reserved for “select value-added partners in the Bitcoin sector” only.

GEMS is a social messaging app which also allows users to send each other bitcoins and its native token, XGEM.

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The first stage of the pre-sale began two weeks ago and ended yesterday when it was opened up to the broader public.

An estimated 300 participants took part in the first round which sold approximately 5 million XGEM at the rate of 17,250 XGEM per BTC. Thus, total proceeds equal approximately 290 BTC (~$110,000), an average of nearly one BTC ($367) per participant.

While buyer interest was strong in the first round, founder Daniel Peled expects numbers to strengthen as the clock for the campaign ticks down. He compared the campaign to that of Ethereum, where “90% of the buys were at the last minute of the best price before it rose.”

GEMS and Koinify worked hard to collaboratively manage the crowdsale, with the GEMS team even flying to San Fransisco where Koinify is based.