[drawkbox]

As I have stated previously, these market participants should treat payments and other transactions made in cryptocurrency as if cash were being handed from one party to the other.

I think for a long time this is how crypto is viewed, it is risky but people are willing to take the risk currently. More reputable US sources like Coinbase are making this possible rather than historical risky bets like mtgox, btc-e etc. In the statement they do mention whether an ICO is domestic/foreign in their research as something you should look out for in terms of the "security" of your purchase, but also whether or not the SEC can even do anything about it.

Regulation will be coming along and they have a blueprint for how that might happen, i.e. securities vs tokens/coins/currency. Before the regulation the risk is higher but probably also the reward.

At this point cryptocurrencies and ICOs are an unstoppable train, either the SEC will be able to regulate currencies + securities or some new group will be formed to handle oversight in the US at least.