The recent plunge in cryptocurrency values appears to have done little to put the brakes on scams targeting retail investors.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has confirmed it recently shut down several "initial coin offerings" (ICOs) which were either illegal or using misleading statements in their marketing.

ASIC also recently stopped the issue of a product disclosure statement (PDS) for a crypto-asset managed investment scheme.

Since April, in five other separate matters, the regulator successfully acted to prevent ICOs raising capital without the appropriate investor protections.

"If you raise money from the public, you have important legal obligations. It is the legal substance of your offer — not what it is called —that matters," ASIC commissioner John Price said.

"You should not simply assume that using an ICO structure allows you to ignore key protections there for the investing public, and you should always ensure disclosure about your offer is complete and accurate."

The scams are not new and ASIC has identified a number of issues that keep showing up.

The use of misleading or deceptive statements in sales and marketing materials

The use of misleading or deceptive statements in sales and marketing materials Operating an illegal unregistered managed investment scheme (MIS)

Operating an illegal unregistered managed investment scheme (MIS) Not holding an Australian financial services licence.

Last week, ASIC issued a final stop order on a PDS issued by Investors Exchange Limited for units in the New Dawn Fund.

The Fund was proposing to invest in a range of cryptocurrency assets. It has now agreed to pull its offer.

Little protection

ASIC has previously warned that while ICOs may sound similar to initial public offerings (IPOs) on the stock market, they are very different and lack the same level of pre-release scrutiny.

"Usually they don't offer any legal rights and protections, or claims to any underlying assets. Offers of shares in an IPO do offer legal rights and protections," ASIC said.

"ICOs use the internet to raise money, but they are not the same as crowd-sourced funding which is regulated under Australian law and offers basic investor protections."

The ASIC paper described ICOs as speculative, high-risk investments and largely experimental.

"As a result, some projects may take years before they become commercially viable, if at all. A large number of ICOs fail or do not increase in value," it said.

Cryptocurrencies' wild ride

Even the most established of the cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, has been a challenge for investors.

In the past 12 months it has surged from around $US5,000 ($6,888) to almost $27,557 only to crash back down again.

On Wednesday, Bitcoin experienced a flash-crash and a wild 10 per cent peak-to-trough swing in value.

It has become a play thing of short-sellers ahead of a decision on the future of a proposed Bitcoin-backed electronically traded fund (ETF).

The US Security and Exchange Commission is due to make a decision on whether to grant approval for the ETF this month, having previously knocked back similar proposals due to the cryptocurrencies' volatility and the potential for price manipulation.