More than 200 active investigations of initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency-related investment products are underway by state and provincial securities regulators in the United States and Canada as part of the North American Securities Administrators Association's ongoing "Operation Cryptosweep" initiative, which was launched in May.
The coordinated sweep has resulted in 47 enforcement actions involving ICOs or cryptocurrency-related investment products, NASAA reported Tuesday.
This includes the 35 announced in May, but does not include the three cease-and-desist orders announced by Colorado securities regulators on Monday.
Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome signed cease-and-desist orders to halt Bionic Coin, Sybrelabs Ltd. and Global Pay Net, which were promoting unregistered ICOs in Colorado as part of an investigation into what Rome said "has become a trend of allegedly fraudulent companies looking to make quick money."
While enforcement investigations involve suspected securities fraud, Joe Borg, NASAA president and Alabama Securities Commission director, said that regulators were finding many other potential violations of state and provincial securities laws, including failure to properly register a product before it was offered to investors.