Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator<br />E.C., Jay Clayton, said in a talk this month that the agency was planning to crack down on offerings<br />that violated securities law, including virtual coins that should be categorized as securities but have not been registered with the authorities.<br />The agency has also warned that at least some coins being sold could be considered securities,<br />and would be in violation of securities law if not registered with the authorities — and few are.<br />He said the most obvious way for regulators to go after initial coin offerings would be to label them as securities<br />and punish them for not registering with the authorities.<br />“I hope what they are doing is planning on a sweep of 50 I. C.O.s.”<br />Mr. Grundfest is far from the only voice who has criticized the frenzy around coin offerings.<br />“Where we see fraud, and where we see people engaging in offerings<br />that are not registered, we are going to pursue them because these types of things have a destabilizing effect on the market,” Mr. Clayton said in a meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
