FIGHT THE FUTURE: US regulators just dealt a blow to the most hyped area in tech investing right now.

On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that “ICOs” (Initial Coin Offerings) can sometimes be considered securities — and as such are subject to strict laws and regulations.

For the uninitiated, ICOs are a fancy new way of fundraising enabled by digital currencies like Ethereum — participants invest money and receive digital “tokens” in return. Thus far, it has been largely unregulated, with some ICO crowdfunding events raising hundreds of millions of dollars — leading some observers to argue that it is a massive bubble.

But the SEC’s warning means that this free-for-all may not last forever.

All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.