[complexmango]

Forget about technical definitions for a second, and consider a practical view from a businessperson.

A share of stock in a publicly traded company is a legally recognized right to the earnings/assets of the company. Of course, the company may choose to distribute the earnings, or reinvest them for greater future earnings/assets. However, all ICOs I've seen so far bestow no legal right to $$ denominated earnings/assets of any sort.

So an ICO to purchase a cashflowing asset (e.g. an apartment building) gives the owner of the token ZERO legal right to claim any of the cash from the rent collected or proceeds from a sale of the apartment building. However, the owners of stock in the corporation that purchased the building definitely have legal rights to the cashflow/proceeds from sale etc, even if their purchase was facilitated by the sale of virtual tokens. They have no legal obligation to pay the token holders anything whatsoever.

This is an over-simplified example to drive the point home.