"Every tradeable ICO is really an unregulated security."

I disagree with this claim. It depends on whether the token constitutes an investment contract. If the token has utility, was sold as a utility bearing token (rather than an investment opportunity), and if the project possesses an open codebase which token holders can theoretically modify, then I don't believe said token is an unregulated security.

Yet, the vast majority of tokens do in fact function as unregulated securities, which is why these waters are muddled.