By Aaron Kaplan ( January 10, 2018, 4:42 PM EST) -- Over the past five years, entities conducting initial coin offerings have chosen to do so outside of the framework provided by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. regulatory agency charged with supervision over the corporate sector, the capital markets, the securities and investment instruments market, and the investing public, under the general belief that sales of such tokens to the general public were not securities. Issuers have made the argument that coins (tokens) are pieces of software that gave purchasers some permission or right on a network, or incorrectly assumed that by offering a sale outside of the U.S., they could work around the SEC. Inspired by trailblazing companies like Uber and Airbnb, which have operated under a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mantra, ICO issuers agreed and believed that such innovative practices did not fall under securities laws and made efforts to package this new instrument in a way that avoided potential securities implications....