Even though ICO's have lost the appeal lately.
I was just wandering about the legalities. The SEC website confuses me. In the eyes of the SEC are true utility tokens still classed as securities in the USA? Is this why many companies avoid the USA when it comes to ICO's?
If a company from outside the USA releases a token, do they have to comply with SEC regulations to enable usa investors?
I am not from the usa but live here now. Is it a resident or a citizen issue?
It's probably exactly that - there are certain regulatory hoops that you'd have to jump through as soon as the thing that you are trying to sell constitutes a security rather than a utility token per se, and it is very difficult to comply with SEC regulations.
We've already seen projects like Kiktoken and so on getting shut down by the SEC and asked to pay a fine because of the fact that they marketed to US audiences, and obviously no company would want that to happen to them.
It's better safe than sorry for sure. You don't want the future of your company being in jeopardy.