The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy recently issued a bulletin listing its 10 most popular Investor Alerts and Bulletins for 2017. Numbers 1 (Initial Coin Offerings) and 2 (Public Companies Making ICO-related Claims) specifically related to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and number 9 (Celebrity Endorsements) arguably was also directed at ICOs (in tandem with the SEC Enforcement/OCIE statement on potentially unlawful celebrity promotion of ICOs and other investments). While the other 7 on the list were not exactly nail biters, the list does put into perspective the SEC’s focus on ICOs (in conjunction with recent SEC enforcement actions and statements by SEC Chairman Clayton) and the attention that is being paid to the SEC’s views and actions in this area. 2018 is bound to be an exciting year as the disruptive and transformative world of ICOs attempts to build upon current momentum, while balancing the demands and constraints of existing within and around a regulated space.
