As we previously
reported, in May 2018, more than 40 state and provincial
securities regulators in the United States and Canada launched a
coordinated enforcement sweep of the ICO market dubbed
"Operation Cryptosweep." On August 28, 2018, the North
American Securities Administrators Association ("NASAA")
published a press release with an update on
the progress of this initiative. According to NASAA, more than 200
active investigations of ICOs and cryptocurrency-related investment
products are currently underway, and blue sky regulators have
brought 46 enforcement actions to date.
NASAA President and Alabama Securities Commission Director
Joseph P. Borg noted that while some of the investigations
initiated as part of Operation Cryptosweep involve suspected
securities fraud, blue sky regulators are also finding many other
potential violations of state and provincial securities laws,
including failure to properly register a product before it was
offered to investors.
