SEC: ICO Party Is Over! Is It Really?
Recently SEC targeted couple of ICOs selling their tokens on the U.S. market, fined those $250,000 each, demand them to refund their investors and then register according to the law requirements for security offerings. I don’t need to tell you both projects were quiet sketchy.
Obviously SEC can not keep up with all the ICOs popping up, not to mention that they are even going after some projects that completed their token sales a while ago, so their goal was to send a clear message to those that think they are above the law.
Of course, all the media covering the crypto space with their typical headlines made it sound like there will be no more Initial Coin Offerings and whether you made or lost some money during the last 12 months the game is over. Yeah Right!
It’s like we don’t have enough BLOOD and FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) in the crypto market at the moment during the childish games of Bitcoin Cash founders and whales taking advantage of the low trading volume on the market, but the media had to add some more with this Anti-ICO headlines.
If you want to be aware of the situation in the crypto market and make informed decisions the last thing you should do is rely on main stream media for genuine information. These websites, newspapers, YouTube channels etc. are always click baiting you as all they care is traffic and views.
SEC are definitely tightening the screws, but this in fact is a good thing for both ICO investors and blockchain developers with genuine intentions. I’ve already covered why the current ICO model is not sustainable and it was only a matter of time for this to happen.
As a member of project currently raising funds via token offerings for me this is a step forward and if you’re interested in ICOs as investor it should mean the same for you. We’ve had enough speculations, promises for Lambos’ and trips to the Moon. It’s time for the market to evolve and mature.
This doesn’t mean that every ICO you come across from now on will be legit. The SEC are only regulating the U.S. market so you always have to do your own due diligence and proper research, because scammers will not just disappear overnight.
So yeah, ICOs are not going anywhere. There are here to stay and whether the future is going to be in real use case Utility Tokens or Security Token Offerings it’s something that no one can tell you for sure. I personally believe it will be a good mixture of both as institutional investors will be interested in securities while the retail investor wants to put a $100 a month.
