The case law says that as long as the user has managerial control then whether you sold a product enabling the user to take control, then as long as the developer has had no control, then the user entirely culpable thus the shares in the product that was sold at ICO are not a security, because there is nothing backing it. It appears you are wrong in the case that the developer steers far from any managerial control throughout the entire process.
You are, I think, attempting to thread a needle here where the "developer" is an employee or contractor for another entity where the other entry has all the control. The could certainly happen in some cases, but remember economic reality has a lot of weight, and can trump organization paperwork.