The SEC released a statement yesterday, concluding that DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organisations) tokens would be seen and dealt with as securities and as such, would be subject to federal securities laws. Regardless of whether these tokens were purchased using the US Dollar or 

While the report claims that the SEC will not bring up any charges against companies at this time, it does highlight the fact, that this is to be seen as a strong warning to the market, that they are definitely aware of what is going on and is busy studying the effects of distributed ledgers.

The SEC is concerned that investors and market participants are protected under federal law with regards to ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) used to fund new ventures.

SEC rule ICOs as securities