Initial Coin Offerings Emerge as FINRA Priority for 2018

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority wants to learn more about broker-dealers’ work with initial coin offerings, the self-regulatory organization’s leader said in a Jan. 8 letter on 2018 priorities.

FINRA aims to “deepen our understanding” of the red-hot digital fundraising tool for startups to get a better grasp of its opportunities and risks, president and chief executive officer Robert Cook said.

ICOs raised $3.7 billion in 2017, according to CoinSchedule, a tracker of the offerings. The haul came despite increased regulatory scrutiny of ICOs, which drew investor fraud cases and warnings from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the first ...