Law Commons^™

The Sec Rides Into Town: Defining An Ico Securities Safe Harbor In The Cryptocurrency “Wild West”, C. Daniel Lockaby

Georgia Law Review

This Note recommends a viable way for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to apply the Regulation S foreign-issuer safe harbor to Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). In the last two years, cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based companies have witnessed dramatic rises in price and value. New entrants to the crypto-markets often use ICOs as virtual public offerings to earn capital and develop their projects.

The SEC has signaled that they plan to fold ICOs and blockchain offerings into existing securities law. How these new virtual capital-raising mechanisms will fit into this framework is still largely unknown. As a defensive measure, many ICOs …