Reuters | By: Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss and Anna Irrera | July 28, 2017:

Technology companies looking to raise money by issuing digital coins are moving forward with their plans despite a U.S. regulator’s decision that their offerings may be subject to tough securities laws.

Such initial coin offerings, or ICOs, have allowed startups to raise $1 billion so far this year, but until this week it was unclear how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would treat the transactions.

On Tuesday, the SEC decided that tokens issued through the ICOs can be considered securities, meaning they would fall under laws that require disclosures and are subject to regulatory scrutiny to protect investors, unless a “valid exemption” applies.

Some industry participants and analysts had thought such a decision would have a chilling effect on the ICO market. But 20 new ICOs were announced since the SEC’s decision, with more than 120 scheduled to launch this year, according to ICO tracker tokendata.io.

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