SEC subpoenas multiple ICOs, $250 mln tZero under investigation

The end of this February has been marked by the sudden rise of activity of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission which is responsible for regulating ICOs. ICO, or initial coin offering, is a process when a company issues a brand digital token (bought either for cryptocurrency or fiat money) to attract investments, which is much easier to do than to hold a classic IPO.

As noted by various mass media outlets, while viewing tokens as securities, the SEC wants ICO project founders to follow the U.S. rules on securities trade, which many of them do not bother to do. Among these alleged violators is tZero - a project belonging to Overstock. The investigation does not necessarily mean that this business has violated anything, assures the Commission in its special notice regarding this issue.

The managers of tZero have already noted that while many other ICOs had received a subpoena, they did not, and overall implied that the SEC is welcome to find any errors.

Rumors tell that the whole subpoena dissemination and ICOs’ investigation are conducted by the special division of the Securities and Exchange Commission called the Division of Enforcement which starts working after some company obviously violates the law. But the representatives of the Commission declined to confirm this to the press.