Savvy investors want proof that the ICO organizer is running a scam, and that it has legs. The SEC has merely created a playbook, not a fraud deterrent.
The ICO scam is a genre of investor literature. As such certain obligatory signs and conventions will be present:
- the countdown (made its first big appearance with the Ethereum crowdsale)
- use of the term "blockchain technology" in the opening paragraph
- combining "blockchain technology" with a secondary domain (e.g. Travel)
- the more non-obvious the match between "blockchain technology" and the secondary domain, the better
- focus on benefits, not features
- describe a problem everyone recognizes (travel is expensive)
- state the size of the market for solutions ($1.5 trillion)
- management team headshots
- appeal to authority/celebrity
- ROI forecast
- a whitepaper that carefully avoids revealing how the token fulfills the promises made in the marketing material
Ticking all the boxes lets the ICO operator reassure the prospective investor that all steps have been taken to ensure future buyers of the token.
Think of it as proof-of-future-bagholder (PoFB). A rinky-dink ICO that can't bring itself to lay the fertilizer sufficiently high will be in no position to keep investors coming in after the crowdsale ends.