S.E.C. Issues Warning on Initial Coin Offerings<br />Most companies selling virtual currencies in recent months have done so with little regulatory oversight<br />and have not made any effort to comply with securities laws, which, among other things, requires companies to disclose information about their operations before collecting money from American investors.<br />By NATHANIEL POPPERJULY 25, 2017<br />The Securities and Exchange Commission took its first steps to rein in start-ups<br />that have raised money by selling their own virtual currencies, a growing trend known as initial coin offerings.<br />Since the beginning of the year, start-ups and entrepreneurs have raised more than $1 billion<br />by selling custom-made virtual currencies to investors in initial coin offerings.<br />The agency said on Tuesday that it had concluded after an internal investigation<br />that at least some virtual currencies being sold to investors should be categorized as securities and needed to follow federal securities laws.
