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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission published a new warning against initial exchange offerings (IEOs). According to the notice, IEOs are similar to initial coin offerings (ICOs), many of which the agency has been investigating as unregistered securities offerings over the past several years. While IEO providers may claim their sales are different from ICOs, they may still violate federal securities laws, the SEC said. As such, the agency warned investors to "be cautious" if they are considering investing in an IEO.

IEOs are similar to ICOs in that they offer digital tokens that companies use to raise capital. The only difference is that IEOs are offered via online cryptocurrency exchanges on behalf of companies-usually for a fee. Because of this, they are often touted as a type of new-fangled ICO, which is somehow immune to U.S. securities law-but they are not.  Many of these IEOs fail to comply with federal securities laws and lack proper investor protections, even though the trading platforms may "claim to perform due diligence or other quality assessments," the SEC said."

Token sales haven't stopped since the 2017 boom. They've just changed names. Initial exchange offerings (IEOs) - where a cryptocurrency exchange offers a direct listing and launch campaign for a new startup token - are earning blockchain companies millions in 2019.

To make investors feel comfortable again, we need more than ease and accessibility, that ICOs and IEOs offer. We also need to offer IPO-grade regulation and compliance. But most startups are not able to do that. So what's the middle ground? Well, maybe the solution is STOs, tokenized securities that comply with regulations. But for now STOs are still a hard route, that lacks liquidity and regulatory clarity.

The total funds raised by IEO projects globally, since inception, stands at over $1.6 billion dollars with an overwhelming majority of these funds, ~1.4 billion being raised in 2019.

LEO is a curiosity in the crypto space, spawned after an initial exchange offering (IEO) by Bitfinex that ran until June 10. According to the claims of Bitfinex, the exchange raised $1 billion from private placements. Conveniently placed, the IEO in effect offset the $900 million debt to Tether, Inc.

Certain exchanges that facilitate initial exchange offerings may be breaking U.S. securities laws, a top SEC official said.

Blockchain and crypto projects have raised $2.65B during May 2019. ~$1.2B, was raised through Initial Exchange Offerings.

The SEC's approval of live streaming platform YouNow's Props token offering falls under Reg A+, which allows startups to raise up to $50 million in a public offering with fewer disclosures than a full IPO requires. Blockstack, a decentralized web platform for DApps, was the first blockchain firm approved under Reg A+.

Blockchain-based utility Swiss Digital Exchange has organized a global consortium of financial institutions to back its initial digital offering slated for the middle of next year on the SDX platform.

Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) is reportedly partnering with Seattle-based KaJ Labs, to launch the trail of its central bank digital currency (CBDC). However, there's no mention of it on the BCB website, and the Kaj Labs press release makes it sound more like the firm has merely initiated discussions with the BCB. Also, it's unclear whether they're discussing retail of wholesale CBDC. It sounds more like the latter, with a focus on using DLT to tokenize and settle bonds.