The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the latest regulatory body to issue warning against Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs).

The FCA said:

“ICOs are very high-risk, speculative investments.

“You should be conscious of the risks involved (highlighted below) and fully research the specific project if you are thinking about buying digital tokens. You should only invest in an ICO project if you are an experienced investor, confident in the quality of the ICO project itself (e.g. business plan, technology, people involved) and prepared to lose your entire stake.”

It further highlighted the related risks which includes no investor protection, price volatility, potential for fraud, and inadequate documentation, among others. The FCA said that most ICOs are not regulated, while many are based overseas.

“Whether an ICO falls within the FCA’s regulatory boundaries or not can only be decided case by case.

“Many ICOs will fall outside the regulated space. However, depending on how they are structured, some ICOs may involve regulated investments and firms involved in an ICO may be conducting regulated activities.”

The FCA urged businesses involved in ICOs to carefully assess if their activities could fall under the scope of dealing with regulated financial investments and related laws.

The FCA’s recent statement follows similar such warnings issued by global regulatory authorities including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Bank of Russia, and the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). China, on the other hand, called an immediate ban of all ICO activities. In addition, the SEC, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) have issued guidance on how ICO tokens may be subject to securities laws.

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest