"A Wave of Lawsuits Looms for ICO Version 1.0 – Are You Prepared?" by Venable partners Chris O'Brien and George Kostolampros, was published in Digital Media Wire on January 25, 2018. The article discusses the trends facing ICOs funding themselves in the blockchain and digital currency space as a result of issuers deciding that their coins or tokens are not securities, regardless of the stage of development of the company and its blockchain network, which raises serious questions under the securities and other laws, and will invite litigation as losses occur in the future for those who bought into ICOs. Here is an excerpt:
In this article, we examine the hypothetical case of one fictional entrepreneur who launched an ICO in early 2017 without treating the tokens as a security, and the potential outcomes and concerns she should have taken into account regarding securities, commodities, government enforcement, private litigation, and insurance. We are not attempting to predict the market for Bitcoin, Ether, or other digital currencies; rather, we are creating a scenario to illuminate legal issues.
To view the white paper from the article, please click here.