China moves to regulate ICO tokens amid concerns

The cumulative financing scale of China’s domestic Initial Coin Offering (ICO) has reached 2.616 billion yuan in the first half of this year, Yicai reported, citing an official report.

The rapid development of this new type of internet financing model has aroused concerns from China’s top regulator. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has recently started seeking opinions on regulating ICO projects, especially those with the potential of scams and frauds, Yicai reported, quoting a top executive in China’s blockchain technology business.

The regulations are currently at the stage of collecting comments and fostering further discussion, with relevant regulatory policies likely to be introduced during the year.

“Given the characteristics of ICO tokens, it is not impossible for regulators to formulate a series of restrictions on ICO products in the future, most likely limiting the tokens to be traded in major exchanges,” a legal professional told Yicai. “However, there are also insiders saying that due to the digital encryption and cross-border nature of the tokens, it is difficult for any country to carry out proper regulations.”