Way back in 2017, the SEC obtained an emergency asset freeze against an internet-based ICO involving certain Canadian residents, who had raised over $15 million on a variety of social media sites through an alleged fraudulent scheme. http://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2017/comp-pr2017-219.pdf.

At the time, it made major news and helped launch the SEC’s Cybersecurity Unit.  Of course, there have been many other actions since that time, but this action demonstrates that, with technology, it is impossible to ignore the potential for cross-border fraud.  Essentially, do you know who you are dealing with on the other screen?  Is it someone in Canada, Lithuania, Malta, Spain, Thailand, Hong Kong or China, among many others?  No one can ever be certain, and this leads to the tremendous risk of hacking or potential for fraud demonstrated by this SEC filing.

In sum, cryptocurrencies and ICOs are not going away, but we must be reminded to be ever vigilant since you may never know who your trading partner is or where they may be– on the other side of your floor or the other side of the world.

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