[PeterisP]

ICOs and the way they're offered to the public have strong parallels with all kinds of historical "investment" products and scams that the SEC has already seen and tackled. In that sense, the scammier ICOs are nothing new, they're a new name/cover/veil/buzzword for a common and classic fraud pattern (sell a share in a product that will make you rich, take the money and run), such fads come periodically every now and then, and SEC has had a lot of practice and quickly identifying and shutting down new fads doing the same thing in a slightly different manner.

I don't feel that this is anomalous, this is SEC-as-expected, as they should be doing. If anything "sit out and wait how this new thing works out" would be a major failure of SEC; it's the job of courts and police to punish fraud after it happens, but it's the job of SEC to prevent or restrict fraudulent general reaching public in the first place, it's their duty and law-given mandate to be proactive in shutting potentially shady things down before they've scammed a lot of people.