ICOs: What is an Initial Coin Offering and how does it work? - Recode

Final paragraphs below; in other *coin news, Bitcoin Is Likely to Split Again in November, Say Major Players (Bloomberg)

"How governments choose to regulate this new type of transaction is one of the big outstanding questions in the field. The IRS has said that virtual currency, in general, is taxable — as long as the currency can be converted to a dollar amount.

Some expect the SEC to begin strictly clamping down on ICOs before the cash is raised. That’s already happened in other countries, most notably China — which this month banned the practice altogether. ICOs, while hosted in a certain country, are not confined to a certain jurisdiction and can be traded anywhere you can connect online.

“Ninety-nine percent of ICOs are a scam, so [China’s pause on ICOs] is needed to filter the crooks out,” tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya tweeted this month. “Next phase of ICOs will be real.”"

ICOs: What is an Initial Coin Offering and how does it work? - Recode