The party is over for Initial Offering Coin (ICO)

It has been a wild run for ico. We see new coin listings every week: Ascendancy, Golem, Tao, etc. Here is a full list of current ICOs: https://www.ico-list.com/

However, the SEC has jumped in and put things into perspective. From dealbreaker.com:

The Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investigative report today cautioning market participants that offers and sales of digital assets by “virtual” organizations are subject to the requirements of the federal securities laws. Such offers and sales, conducted by organizations using distributed ledger or blockchain technology, have been referred to, among other things, as “Initial Coin Offerings” or “Token Sales.” Whether a particular investment transaction involves the offer or sale of a security – regardless of the terminology or technology used – will depend on the facts and circumstances, including the economic realities of the transaction.

The issuers of digital coins will now have to register offers and sales of such securities unless exemption is granted. This is a vital move to reduce the level of speculation in the market for digital assets. At this point, the ICO market is even bigger than the market for venture capital. Most investors don't have a clue what they are buying into. As a result, a minority of issuers were able to capitalize on the public's ignorance and got away with millions of dollars.

Although new regulation will protect investors and weed out the scammers, I think it will slow down the development of legitimate issuers who wish to raise capital from their coins. Coins are not only digital assets but also tools to solve problem in different markets such as gaming, transportation, laws, etc. For instance, Ethereum has had phenomenal growth thanks to the unregulated market at its early days. Hopefully, we will still witness strong growth in crypto technology notwithstanding the gradually emerging regulation.