''Everybody's doing it.'' ''No one's getting hurt.'' ''You're ruining all the fun.''

Those retorts sound like the arguments a teen makes when her parents forbid her from attending a concert or a party. They're also what some attorneys are hearing when they counsel startup founders itching to raise capital through an initial coin offering (ICO).

ICOs are unarguably a fast and effective way to secure money: Sales in 2017 totaled $5.6 billion, Token Data reported, and $1.2 billion of that was raised in December alone. Companies are making headlines for their highly profitable sales of tokens or coins, which can then be traded in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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Originally published by Bloomberg Law, Securities Regulation & Law Report, 04/30/2018

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