Regulation of token sales internationally. ICO business models and tokens.

Legal framework in the USA. "I believe that every ICO that I encounter will provide certainty," the chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began his presentation to the US Senate Banking Oversight Committee in February 2018 with these words. In doing so, he confirmed the great fears of many blockchain startups - that their ICOs, based on the public offering of online bonds called "tokens" (the latter legislated as securities in the United States), are subject to cumbersome registration requirements.

These fears have led numerous emerging companies in the IT industry to launch their ICOs exclusively outside of the United States, ignoring the advantages of attracting U.S.-based investors in the belief that they can thus avoid certain sluggish government regulations.

This "strategy" is based on two misconceptions about the laws governing securities trading around the world. First, it is impossible to conduct a token sale in the US without going through the particularly expensive administrative procedure of registering the ICO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accompanied by the preparation of a project description. Second, the legal framework and procedures for securities regulation in the United States is uniquely burdensome.