On Friday, StartEngine's ICO 2.0 Spring Summit brought crowds of people to the The Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, California. The main room buzzed with excitement as various experts spoke about ICOS. 

ICO Regulation 

Regulating ICOs was a topic carried through the course of multiple panels. The subject elicited various opinions.

Jay Samit, Independent Vice Chairman of Deloitte, explained the main concern with regulating ICOs in layman's terms. For context, the event was held on April 20th, or 4/20. This is a date that has become popular for people to both celebrate and smoke cannabis.

Samit joked that it was a fitting day to hold the event as both cannabis and ICO regulations are avenues that evoke copious questions about what's legal and what's not. He continued, "everyone in this room wants swim lanes." The problem, those lanes simply do not exist.  

As of now, the lack of regulations leaves many people vulnerable. It's hard to defend oneself if there aren't parameters and rules for one to build him or her defense upon. 

The U.S. government has not yet given specific laws regarding ICOs. Some panelists at the Start Engine Summit weren't sure if these laws would ever be put in place. Others were of the opinion that the law will eventually catch up with the technology. 

Mahbod Moghadam, co-founder of Everipedia, drew a comparison to what happened with the onset of Lyft and Uber. When these car services first came out, people were both eager and apprehensive about using them. The public didn't know what was legal and what wasn't.

However, as the services grew in popularity, there was an urgency for regulations. If something's going to create massive value in society, Moghadam said, "it will get worked out." 

In order for cryptocurrency to have a good future, there needs to be a widespread understanding of how it works. This knowledge is particularly crucial for government officials, noted several speakers. It's paramount that congress people know what cryptocurrency is and how the technology works. This way, when laws are put in place, it can be regulated correctly and fairly. 

As a lawyer, Linda Lerner, senior counsel at Crowell & Moring, took a very pragmatic approach to the issue. Lerner said that although cryptocurrency is a different world than the traditional one, things still need to be dealt with. Her advice? "Get a good lawyer." 

This necessity for regulations is not simply a U.S. issue, it's a wordwide issue. 

 

 

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