By Michael Canty and Ross Kamhi (April 26, 2018, 12:33 PM EDT) -- The rapid growth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies over the past year has fueled a surge in initial coin offerings — fundraising mechanisms through which founders of cryptocurrency ventures sell "tokens" in exchange for either cryptocurrency (such as bitcoin or ethereum) or traditional fiat currency. As the amount of money raised through ICOs has increased, so too have opportunities for fraud. Over the past several months, a number of class actions have been filed against ICO founders for securities fraud, which means courts will soon begin to grapple with applying the federal securities laws to a new (and potentially groundbreaking) fundraising mechanism....