Initial Coin Offerings(ICOs) have raised US$1.5 billion this year alone, compared to US$100 million in all of 2016This FOMO-inspiring figure is thanks to the until recently near-complete absence of any securities regulations. In most cases, companies have raised funds entirely in Bitcoin and Ether, and did not put investors through any Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) process.
But regulation is coming, and depending on the jurisdiction, companies who have held ICOs in the past could be held to existing securities laws, and this could put a chill on the red-hot ICO market. At the heart of if and how to regulate an ICO is one question; Is a token a security?
Initial Coin Offerings(ICOs) have raised US$1.5 billion this year alone, compared to US$100 million in all of 2016This FOMO-inspiring figure is thanks to the until recently near-complete absence of any securities regulations. In most cases, companies have raised funds entirely in Bitcoin and Ether, and did not put investors through any Know Your Customer/Anti-Money Laundering (KYC/AML) process.
But regulation is coming, and depending on the jurisdiction, companies who have held ICOs in the past could be held to existing securities laws, and this could put a chill on the red-hot ICO market. At the heart of if and how to regulate an ICO is one question; Is a token a security?
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