US SEC Approved More Than 280 ICOs in 2018 Despite Rough Ride

It won’t be wrong to say that 2018 was a busy year for the US SEC in the battle against fraudulent ICO projects as there was hardly any month that the crypto community didn’t read about a clampdown by the regulator.

ICOs projects were not the only ones affected by the SEC’s rage. Celebrities like Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled were also victims. Both superstars found themselves in the clutches of the American regulator and were made to cough out $614,775 and $152,725 respectively.

However, despite the vicious fight against ICO frauds, it will come as a little surprise to know that the ever-watchful US regulator gave a “go-ahead” to a total of 287 projects in 2018, according to FinanceMagenete.

How did it happen?

Unlike many other projects, these successful companies did not issue their products to the public but took a different route. They approached accredited investors with their offerings by completing a “Form D” with the SEC. After the regulator cleared them, they were able to raise funds for their projects without adhering to the endless SEC’s rules.

Accredited investors are people with a minimum net worth of $1 million or with an income level of $200,000 or more within the last two years. Companies with at least $5 million in assets also fall into this category.

With this strategy, ICOs may now be able to raise funds by reaching out to selected individuals and companies in the US, a country filled with a large chunk of accredited investors.

In October, Ethereum Developer, Fabian Vogelsteller, proposed a new model dubbed “Reversible Initial Coin Offering (RICO)” that ICOs can use to fund their projects.

Fabian, who co-authored the ERC-20 protocol that facilitates ICOs on the blockchain,   claimed that RICO will be built around investors’ protection and this will in turn help to reduce the number of fraudulent projects.