Regulatory Authorities To Know Before Doing Business In Crypto

In 2017, 235 initial coin offerings (ICOs) raised almost US$3.7 billion dollars, an increase of 3700% from 2016. Unsurprisingly, regulators around the world have reacted to the explosive growth in ICOs, with regulators in China and South Korea going as far as issuing or considering an outright ban on ICO activity. Closer to home, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been actively monitoring and taking action against fraudulent and misleading ICO activity (see our January 17, 2018 Update, Read This Before Your ICO: Minimizing the Risk of a Securities Token). In Canada, we have not yet seen as strong a reaction from regulators, although the Canadian Securities Administrators have provided meaningful guidance on the applicability of Canadian securities laws to ICOs (see our August 30, 2017 Update, Initial Coin Offerings in Canada: The CSA Weighs Inc.).