In groundbreaking news for the blockchain community, moments ago the SEC issued a press release, referencing an investor bulletin on Initial Coin Offerings, which concluded that DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, are securities for regulatory purposes, and cautioned that US Securities law "may" apply to offers, sales and trading of interested in virtual organization, targeting the increasingly more popular Initial Coin Offerings.

As a result of this change of treatment, those who use ICOs to sell tokens, which as a reminder have now surpassed over $1 billion in net proceeds, will have to register the tokens as securities, those participating in unregistered offerings may be liable for violations of the securities laws, and that the purpose of the registration "is to ensure that investors are sold investments that include all the proper disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny for investors' protection."