The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a new framework for crypto asset fundraising that, according to Bloomberg, is meant to reopen a path for ICO-style issuance. Under the proposal, startups would be allowed to raise as much as $5 million over four years, while larger projects could raise up to $75 million annually without completing full SEC registration. The plan marks a notable shift in how token fundraising could be handled under U.S. securities rules.
Even so, the market this proposal would enter looks very different from the one that fueled the 2018 ICO boom. ICO fundraising reached $3 billion in January 2018 alone, but venture-backed token trading activity has since fallen sharply. At the same time, speculative capital has moved into perpetual futures, prediction markets and AI-related stocks.
Industry figures quoted by Bloomberg were cautious about the proposal’s practical impact. Dragonfly partner Tom Schmidt said it was better than nothing, though he added it would have been more useful a few years ago. Pantera Capital partner Cosmo Jiang argued that the previous situation, where meme coins were legal but tokens with real utility were not, ran against how a capitalist system should work. One analyst also said the ICO of 2026 will not resemble the ICO of 2018.
According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced a crypto asset fundraising proposal this month that seeks to revive the ICO model.
Under the proposal, startups would be able to raise up to $5 million over four years, while larger projects could raise as much as $75 million a year without going through full SEC registration.
The backdrop is no longer what it was during the last ICO cycle. ICO fundraising hit $3 billion in January 2018 alone. Now, trading volume in VC-backed tokens has dropped sharply, and speculative capital has shifted to perpetual futures, prediction markets and AI stocks.
Dragonfly partner Tom Schmidt said, 「Better than nothing, but it would have been more useful a few years ago」.
Pantera Capital partner Cosmo Jiang said, 「Previously, meme coins were legal while tokens with real value were illegal, which is completely the opposite of how a capitalist society works」.
An analyst said, 「The ICO of 2026 is not the ICO of 2018. The era when a white paper and a dream could attract capital is over」.
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