German Regulator Pledges 'Precise' Oversight of ICOs
Germany's top financial regulator has issued a letter of advice in an attempt to clarify some of the regulatory uncertainties around ICOs.

Germany's financial markets regulator has issued new guidance on how it will classify tokens sold during initial coin offerings (ICOs), including those it will consider securities.
On Feb. 20, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) issued a letter of advice, announcing the move in light of an influx of inquiries from businesses looking to host token sales within Germany. The move follows its warning in late 2017 regarding the risks associated with investing in ICOs.
The letter (of which an English version is not currently available) reveals that BaFin will conduct a "precise case-by-case examination" of tokens to determine their legal status, instead of issuing broad rules that govern the activity. It says that tokens can represent various financial instruments, including stocks, derivatives and digital representations of voting rights.
The agency also used the letter to offer some advice to startups looking to launch ICOs: get in touch. It advises token offers to ascertain whether their respective products fall under existing national and EU-wide regulation.
BaFin also encouraged businesses to be aware of the regulatory grey-area of ICOs and tokens, advising them to get in touch with its offices prior to launching a sale.
Image Credit: Jan von Uxkull-Gyllenband / Shutterstock.com
Больше для вас
Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

Что нужно знать:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Crypto Markets Today: Bitcoin Rises, but Risk Appetite Remains Weak

Crypto prices are little changed, with bitcoin steady after dropping back from last week’s post-Fed high while altcoins continue to underperform amid risk-off sentiment.
What to know:
- BTC rebounded from Sunday’s $88,000 low to around $89,900, though it remains well below the $94,300 it hit after the Fed’s 25 basis-point rate cut.
- More than half of the top 100 tokens are lower over 24 hours, with the CoinDesk 20 up just 0.16% and the broader CD80 down 0.77%, underscoring altcoins' continuing underperformance.
- Sentiment has slipped back into “extreme fear,” altcoin season indicators remain depressed, and bitcoin dominance continues to climb, reflecting investor preference for larger-cap assets.










