True. But I think the "ICO" is very clearly in violation of the law. This creates a liability when they are sued by investors who lose money as a result.
Which law specifically do you think is violated?
The Securities Act of 1933, section 5(a) for one. There are others which may also pertain, but I am not a domain expert, and prefer to mention only the one which seems relatively straightforward in its application.
Is Poloniex doing anything at all with securities?
Even Bitshares and XCP aren't traded there as securities.
Nothing they sell is a share of a company, or anything like that, is there?
Again, I am in now way intimate with their business practices, but I'd imagine that would be a hard one to stretch into applying to their business.
They may run into trouble with the CFTC once the Winklevoss do their thing, because then they would run into issues if anyone traded what might amount to a basket, but most of what I see there is pretty small volumes.