Today, the Commission (SEC -Securities and Exchange Commission) issued a Report of Investigation relating to an offering by The DAO — a decentralized autonomous organization that used distributed ledger or blockchain technology to operate as a “virtual” entity. The DAO sold tokens representing interests in its enterprise to investors in exchange for payment with virtual currency. Investors could hold these tokens as an investment with certain voting and ownership rights or could sell them on web-based secondary market platforms. Based on the facts and circumstances of this offering, the Commission, as explained in the Report, determined that the DAO tokens are securities.
Investors Should Be Mindful of Risks Associated with New Technologies, Including Risks of Fraud.

Finally, SEC recognizes that new technologies also present new opportunities for bad actors to engage in fraudulent schemes, including old schemes under new names and using new terminology. We urge the investing public to be mindful of traditional “red flags” when making any investment decision, including: deals that sound too good to be true; promises of high returns with little or no risk; high-pressure sales tactics; and working with unregistered or unlicensed sellers. In that regard, the SEC’s website for individual investors, Investor.gov, has a number of relevant resources — including an Investor Bulletin that the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued today regarding Initial Coin Offerings

https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-131