have taken the startup funding world by storm — to the tune of $1.78 Billion — but not all governments are keen on allowing this much business activity to function outside of their central currency. Most notably, China’s central bank announced on its website that . ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) ICOs are now illegal Graph via Coindesk ICO Tracker On , Ananas Co-Founder argued that as ethics and regulations have not kept up with the high growth of ICOs, and ultimately he thinks, “we can expect the ban to be lifted soon and guidelines put in place.” Hacker Noon Emad Mostaque China was right to clamp down on ICOs But we shall see… In a “ ,” Lightyear.io Counsel & Program Manager details the short and long term effects of this decision. She concludes, “China’s statement on ICOs was a strong, decisive move towards greater consumer protection, greater monetary control, and more effective anti-money-laundering processes.” Brief Analysis of China’s Ban on ICOs Lindsay X. Lin Things will probably heat up before they cool down as Hong Kong’s Security and Futures Commission Executive Director of Intermediaries Ms Julia Leung , “Those involved in an ICO need to be aware that some ICO structures may be subject to Hong Kong securities laws.” released this statement today For more about about ICO & security relations in America, read ’s , and his most notably story to date: “ ” Andrew J. Chapin benjaCoin’s live ICO journey The SEC Called About Our ICO, I Answered. , “The amount of money raised by cryptocurrency and blockchain start-ups via so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) has surpassed early stage venture capital (VC) funding for internet companies for the past two months.” CNBC reported recently penned a great primer on ICOs from the perspective of an early stage venture capitalist: “ .” It’s a great read for solidifying your ICO foundational knowledge AND seeing how a venture capitalist approaches this new funding phenomenon. Ouriel Ohayon ICOs for Dummies (like me) When determining whether you should participate in an ICO, consider SkillShare CEO ’s Thesis, Token Network Effects, Team & Leadership, Technology & Developer Ecosystem, Transparency & Trust, Traction & Roadmap, and Terms & Legal. Michael Karnjanaprakorn 7 Ts Framework : For more on the INTERNET’s impact on CURRENCY , check out the latest stories on our sister publication Keeping Stock , as well as our collections on Bitcoin , Cryptocurrencies , Money , and of course, ICOs . Sometimes when I hear, “ICO, ICO, ICO,” I think, “ ” It’s a colloquial reminder, when something really starts , it’s good to take a step back and Iko Iko un-dayJock-a-mo fee-no ai na-né. trending in the tech industry listen to some music... 5 Must Read Tech Stories This Week That Have Nothing to Do With ICOs: by Carpe Lotion Co-founder . Great take on implications of publishing aspirational bullsh*t on your website, and a clear argument for how to be direct about what your company does. “For the love of God, please tell me what your company does” Kasper Kubica by . A strong argument that will be a stronger force for good than evil as a response to this mindset: “Humans love huge, flashy threats. We’re seriously awesome at ignoring real problems in favor of big, crazy ones. The bigger and crazier the better! Now we have super-AI, the mother of all problems.” “Why SuperIntelligent AI Will Kick Ass” Daniel Jeffries AI by MD of The Alcohol-Free Shop . This story goes into the underbelly of Apple’s customer ‘experience’ and return policy. It begins with “On Saturday I bought a new Macbook Pro with touch bar. And on Sunday I returned it. The only surprising part of this is the fact I returned it so soon.” “Why I owned a Macbook Pro for a day — and what it says to me about the future of Apple” John Risby by . In his own wise words, “Much like artichokes, this post is not for everyone. It’s for the developer using (which comes with npm 5). The developer who has not read the Yarn and npm docs (you fools with your ‘social lives’). The developer who has heard about Yarn, seen it popping up in more and more places, and who has begun to think that they ‘should’ be using it.” “It’s OK to not use Yarn” David Gilbertson Node 8 by Freelance Developer & Maker of Inkdrop . Great guide for walking through the levers of how to structure deals between high growth startups and top notch freelance developers. “How to Price Yourself as a Freelance Developer” Takuya Matsuyama Until next time, don’t take the realities of the world for granted. Kind Regards, , David Smooke @ AMI ICYMI — P.S. check out our company’s origin story.