The long battle between crypto and central governments has begun. Round 1, The SEC declares the DAO a security. Round 2, China declares ICOs illegal. What will happen in round 3?

It has been said that Paris Hilton fronting for Lydian (an ICO backed by Gurbaksh Chahal) represents “peak ICO”. Possibly.

What I think will happen is this:

some legit proposals (like Filecoin) will elect to raise money the traditional way. Regardless of ICOs, crypto is hot, and there are plenty of amazing businesses to be built on top of blockchains.

others will choose to sell tokens piecemeal, as opposed to in “initial coin offerings”. Apps that are truly useful will be able to sell tokens, just like SaSS subscriptions.

others will continue with variants on what we now call ICOs. Legit structures are emerging including the very interesting hybrid A+ / ICO offering from Start Engine.

nobody in their right mind will launch an ICO in China.

On the counter-balence, crypto is just starting. Today there are about 10 million wallets worldwide. I suspect we will hit 100 MM in 2 years. Some amazing things are going to built on that new architecture, and I am not sure how central governments (or the people that in theory elect them) will feel about turning back the clock.