ICOs And Crypto Funds In The Context Of Recent Regulatory Decisions

Mourant Ozannes Partner John Rochester considers the popularity of initial coin offerings (ICOs) and their future in the face of increased global regulatory attention.

Introduction

Most people will by now have at least heard of blockchain – a distributed ledger or decentralised database of digital transactions grouped together in a cryptographically protected 'block' with other transactions that have occurred within a similar timeframe and circulated to the entire network. One thing virtually all tech investors acknowledge is that blockchain, the underlying technology behind cryptocurrencies, is here to stay. The digital ledger is already being used for real-world applications like payments, mortgages and incorporation documents. The most famous blockchain is probably Bitcoin – the first of the cryptocurrencies.