Mass. Crackdown Reflects Increased State Regulation Of ICOs

By Christopher Conniff, Daniel O'Connor, Helen Gugel and Jessica Soricelli (April 11, 2018, 1:26 PM EDT) -- On March 27, 2018, the top securities regulator in Massachusetts issued consent orders halting five initial coin offerings — including projects that sought to raise capital to assist families affected with cancer and to support the programming for children — based on allegations that the token sales constituted unregistered securities offerings in violation of state law.[1] Among other things, a number of the companies behind the ICOs, each of which were either incorporated or primarily did business in the state, agreed to refund investors as a condition of settlement. The consent orders come on the heels of increased federal scrutiny of ICOs by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and serve as a reminder that market participants in the virtual currency space must be mindful of state regulators as well....

Law360 is on it, so you are, too.

A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions.


A Law360 subscription includes features such as

  • Daily newsletters
  • Expert analysis
  • Mobile app
  • Advanced search
  • Judge information
  • Real-time alerts
  • 450K+ searchable archived articles

And more!

Experience Law360 today with a free 7-day trial.

Start Free Trial

Already a subscriber? Click here to login

Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!