Regulatory scrutiny is increasing, but this isn't slowing the pace of blockchain activity - if anything, it's helping the industry mature.
Following the boom of 2017 in which over $3.8 trillion dollars was raised in initial coin offerings (Coinschedule.com data) regulators have woken up to the enormity of the capital at large here and it is becoming increasingly more difficult to
- proceed with an ICO for a business and
- win the trust of the investors who are now more savvy to the risks involved with investing into a virtual token.
Companies choosing to go down the ICO route are increasingly on the look out to maintain an image (and reality) of security; how can you assure your investors that their hard earned funds will be secure?
Ironically, research is beginning to show that to invest with a new and nontraditional method into technologies such as a blockchain, the demand for a traditional 'seal of approval' is preferable. For example, insurance.
In a Wild West of ICO's open to the public and with their dangers made increasingly more exposed - to have the knowledge that the token you are buying into is backed by a company holding the right traditional insurance with an element of protecting your financial interest, would without a doubt be a huge attraction point.
Ultimately, regulation appears to be a bust for unregulated public ICOs, and a boon for most others. Expect regulators to crack down with increasing regularity on ICOs, with both fines and indictments. At the same time, industry attempts at self-regulation are encouraging. Expect industry actors and regulatory agencies to converge on better-defined legislation and regulation.
