Are scam ICOs going to draw the attention of governments?

[greply]

With the massive rise of ICOs over the last few months, some of which have been straight up scams and ponzi schemes, will this expedite the entrance of governments into the world of crypto in the name of consumer protection?

[Mrcheezil]

I've only been active in crypto for a couple months, but I've been watching the market for a couple years. The ICO's will eventually draw the governments in for the sake of consumer protection. The problem will lie in actually being able to control them. Short of blacklisting the websites there isn't much they can do about it, let alone track if you've been involved in the ICO. Even if the sites were blacklisted somehow there's always a VPN service willing to get around it.

In the end, this is a wholly uncontrolled area, and probably will be for years to come. If you are U.S. based you're already not supposed to be active in the ICO's, so on a technicality regulators can't do much.

[Arindava]

If indeed with the many ICO scams, I think the government needs to protect its citizens, but with impartial regulations..

[yvv]

Many governments don't give a shit about protecting their citizens from scam. All ICOs will move to these jurisdictions.

[lady Royal]

I don't think so, That they are going to take an interest in it.
They don't care about it and why people are so dumb to know that the ICO is scam or not why they don't do any research on that before investing their money in the ICO?

[chaosfourever]

I don't think so, That they are going to take an interest in it.
They don't care about it and why people are so dumb to know that the ICO is scam or not why they don't do any research on that before investing their money in the ICO?

How do you even know an ICO is a scam. There are some ICO's with a good team behind them with good promise and strong community support yet somehow that might be a scam. It feels almost impossible to tell what is legit and not.

[greply]

I don't think so, That they are going to take an interest in it.
They don't care about it and why people are so dumb to know that the ICO is scam or not why they don't do any research on that before investing their money in the ICO?

How do you even know an ICO is a scam. There are some ICO's with a good team behind them with good promise and strong community support yet somehow that might be a scam. It feels almost impossible to tell what is legit and not.

Agreed. It's difficult to know what is real and what is not, even after doing extensive research.

What you see in traditional stock markets is that there is a governing body that will hold companies and individuals accountable should they attempt to defraud or mislead people. However, in the crypto market no such governance structure exists yet. I do think that such an organisation will eventually emerge, and it doesn't necessarily need to be enforced by governments or regulations. There are many other ways to motivate people besides forcing them by use laws.

[SimmonenY]

I think scam ICOs won't draw the attention of governments because there is no incentive for them. Perhaps if they find a way to regulate and get a profit from ICOs then maybe they will pay attention to scams.

[Renji Abarai]

I hope so. That is why the government wants to regulate this cryptocurrency. In my opinion its better to have a body that will monitor this ICO's. They will check the infrastructure, actual project profitability etc. We are not spending here play money, but a bitcoin that has real value to fiat.

[PremiumPumps]

I think it really depends how big the ICOs are. Coins like Leocoin which scammed lots of people were investigated and arrests are made. But, for now looks like there are too many to regulate.

[niisarearning]

It may take lots of time because government still evaluating cryptocurrency highly recommended bitcoin also under investigation for legalisation then next will be altcoins and it will take years to evaluate ICO like crypto assets.

[puremage111]

With the massive rise of ICOs over the last few months, some of which have been straight up scams and ponzi schemes, will this expedite the entrance of governments into the world of crypto in the name of consumer protection?

Dont think anyone can ever stop it

As mentioned, the main reason why crypto exist - decentralised

Which means no one can ever control, made decision, or change something without the majority agree

Govern will never ever get to shut down cryptos, even if they banned, how can they prevent these?

Blocking Major IP from accessing cryptos wallet/site?
Tor/ Vpn is the key

[European Central Bank]

Dont think anyone can ever stop it

As mentioned, the main reason why crypto exist - decentralised

Which means no one can ever control, made decision, or change something without the majority agree

Govern will never ever get to shut down cryptos, even if they banned, how can they prevent these?

Blocking Major IP from accessing cryptos wallet/site?
Tor/ Vpn is the key

most of these people are identifiable so they can stop them. they don't even need to pass or enforce any laws, just remind them who's boss and they shut themselves down.

the bucks are too big and too reckless to go unnoticed. it's coming.

[bkbirge]

It'll definitely happen. Sooner than later is my guess, about the time some US Congress person's kid gets taken for a lot of money from an ICO. Then we'll get 24/7 news blasted about how dangerous the crypto space is and they'll be a couple Congressional committees to study the issue with the foregone conclusion that gov't needs to insert themselves somehow as the middleman. Those middle men will be the usual suspects from big banks and hedge funds who while supposedly performing oversight will figure out a way to enrich themselves. They will tithe the proper amounts to their favorite politicians so they themselves never have to suffer "oversight". Or it could all be candy corn and rainbows and there are no lessons to learn from history because "cryptos are so like revolutionary man", lol.

[ArticMine]

The United States Government fired a shot across the bow well over four years ago over this. https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/FIN-2013-G001.pdf How many ICOs, scam or not, meet the definition of de-centralized virtual currency? Zero. One needs an "Administrator" and "centralized depository" in order deal with the proceeds from the ICO. How many have registered with FinCEN as MSBs? To my knowledge one, Ripple. This was part of the settlement with FinCEN. https://www.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen-fines-ripple-labs-inc-first-civil-enforcement-action-against-virtual

There is no need for the US Congress to act here. The United States Government can use existing law and has a four year old guidance, and a civil enforcement action in place already.

[Mormyr]

No, they will not act in any way, it would be way too hard. Even in proven scams using credit cards, reversable, trackable, they do nothing, and when they do, they take that much time that even a legless guy would have the time to world turn at feet.

[Mr.Joshua]

The government won't got involved until they figure out how to get the money for themselves.  Until then, people will have to be more careful, too many scammers. 

[TopT3ns]

i think not, even bitcoin can't draw the attention of government because bitcoin is not regulated yet and that is same with altcoin. so for ICO we must know the risk and take the decision. it will be different from Ponzi because that kind investment only steal our money and not give profit. so just avoid it

[secusuch]

Dont you guys think that introduction of specific regulations in the altcoin domain can become quite a reality for countries with generally authoritarian stance - Russia, China, some Latam states maybe?

[Ucy]

Government must not do everything for us, are we children? We need less government in our lives. The purpose of government have been abused by crooks. This forum is not supervised nor run by government yet it's functioning very well. I'd rather have software and robots run things than so called government.
Crypto is about to take over the World yet it's is not regulated by government but by softwares and smart stakeholders