The SEC Man Cometh for ICO Attorneys

Lawyers advising the booming cryptocurrency and token industry may soon face a reckoning from the federal government, former SEC officials told Bloomberg Law.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expanding its focus from the companies developing initial coin offerings to the hundreds of lawyers who are guiding them through regulatory gray areas. The industry argues it doesn’t fit neatly into existing legal frameworks as global regulators consider whether virtual tokens might be securities — which require strict regulatory compliance.

Attorneys that intentionally misadvised clients or failed to advise disclosure that a token was a security to investors could be fined, ...