Public token sales are back. The biggest change for anyone watching upcoming ICOs and TGEs came on 18 August 2026, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed "Regulation Crypto Assets". It would create two exemptions for token offerings: a one-time raise of up to $5 million over four years, and a raise of up to $75 million in each 12-month period with more disclosure. It would also add a safe harbor that ends the investment-contract status of a token once the issuer has finished its promised work. The rule is still a proposal. Sale calendars change often, so treat any listed date as provisional until the project confirms it on its own site. Below are the rules as they stand, how recent sales were run, the sectors that are raising money, and a checklist for vetting a sale.
ICO, TGE, IDO: the terms
- ICO (initial coin offering): a project sells tokens directly to buyers.
- TGE (token generation event): the point when tokens are minted and distributed. It is often also when they first trade. A TGE can follow a sale, an airdrop, or both. The sale window and the TGE are usually on different dates.
- IDO (initial DEX offering): a sale run through a launchpad on a decentralised exchange.
- Airdrop: tokens given free to eligible users, often based on past activity on a protocol.
The rules in 2026
United States: a proposed offering regime (18 August 2026)
The SEC's press release 2026-76 of 18 August 2026 sets out what Regulation Crypto Assets would do:
- Startup exemption: a one-time offering of up to $5 million over four years.
- Larger exemption: up to $75 million in each 12-month period. This route also requires financial statements and ongoing reporting.
- Disclosure: both routes require "principles-based narrative disclosures" made available to investors.
- Safe harbor: if its conditions are met, a crypto asset is deemed not subject to an investment contract. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said this applies once an issuer has "completed or permanently ceased all essential managerial efforts" it promised.
- States: the rules would preempt state registration and qualification requirements for these offerings.
- Comments: open for 60 days after the release is published in the Federal Register.
The proposal builds on an SEC–CFTC interpretive release dated 17 March 2026. That release sorts crypto assets into five groups: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins and digital securities. Fund filings with the SEC describe it as interpretive guidance, not a binding rule, and say a future administration can modify or withdraw it.
Stablecoins already have a statute. The GENIUS Act (S. 1582) was signed into law on 18 July 2025. It sets a federal framework for payment stablecoins, including reserve backing with liquid assets such as US dollars or short-term Treasuries.
European Union: MiCA is fully in force
Under Article 4 of MiCA (Regulation (EU) 2023/1114), a token that is not an asset-referenced or e-money token can be offered to the public only if:
- the offeror is a legal person;
- the offeror has written a crypto-asset white paper;
- the offeror has notified that white paper to its home regulator, at least 20 working days before publication.
Regulators do not approve the white paper in advance, and some small or limited offers are exempt. MiCA's transition period for crypto-asset service providers ended on 1 July 2026. Since then, only authorised firms may provide crypto-asset services in the EU.
What this means for buyers: in the EU, a sale with no notified white paper is a warning sign. In the US, the $5 million and $75 million routes are not yet law.
Have you checked this token sale?
Answer each question about a sale or TGE you are looking at to see which parts of the article's checklist are still open.
Is the sale confirmed on the project's own domain, with the date, the contract address and the official sale page?
- Yes, on the project's own site → next question
- No, only on an aggregator calendar, in a direct message or on another site → Warning signs of a fake sale
Is anyone pushing you with direct messages, a "whitelist closing" countdown or a lookalike domain?
- Yes → Warning signs of a fake sale
- No → next question
Where is the token being offered to the public?
- In the EU → next question
- In the US → next question
- Elsewhere, or the sale does not say → next question
Has the offeror written a MiCA crypto-asset white paper and notified it to its home regulator at least 20 working days before publication?
- Yes, a notified white paper is published → next question
- No white paper, or I cannot find one → The legal paperwork is missing
Does the issuer say which exemption it is relying on for the offering?
- Yes, it names one → next question
- No, or it cites the $5 million or $75 million routes as if they were law → The legal paperwork is missing
Do you know the sale mechanics: auction or fixed price, any cap per buyer, excluded countries, KYC, lockups and a refund process if you are not allocated?
- Yes, all of these are stated → next question
- Some are missing → Parts of the checklist are still open
Can you map the supply: the float at the TGE, the unlock schedule for the team and investors, and the yearly emissions (and, if fees are burned, the burn compared with new issuance)?
Does demand come from fees paid for a working product, and are there published audits, verified contracts and a known holder of the upgrade keys?
- Yes to all → You have covered the article's checklist
- Demand is mainly new token rewards, or the code checks are missing → Parts of the checklist are still open
An unconfirmed sale or pressure to act fast are common signs of fake sales. Confirm everything on the project's own domain before going further.
In the EU, a public offer with no notified white paper is a warning sign. In the US, Regulation Crypto Assets is still only a proposal, so its $5 million and $75 million routes are not yet law.
Go back to the missing items. Remember that oversubscription usually means partial allocations, and that money committed is not the same as money raised.
You have checked each point the article lists. That does not mean the token will hold its value, and it is not a reason to buy.
This walks through the article's checklist only. It cannot verify any sale, contract or document for you, does not cover tax or rules outside the EU and US, and is not investment advice.
How recent sales were structured
Two large sales from the past year show what sale formats look like now.
Zama (January–February 2026)
- Format: Zama, a company building fully homomorphic encryption (FHE), ran a sealed-bid Dutch auction on Ethereum from 21 to 24 January 2026. Bids were encrypted with the company's own technology.
- Results: a sponsored press release published on 27 January 2026 reported about $118.5 million committed, a clearing price of $0.05, 11,103 unique bidders and 218% oversubscription, all according to the company.
- TGE: Zama's official post says claims opened and trading began on 2 February 2026.
- Token use: ZAMA pays for encryption and decryption and rewards operators and stakers. All fees are burned, and new rewards are minted on a yearly emission schedule.
MegaETH (October 2025)
- Format: an English auction of MEGA tokens. It opened at a $1 million fully diluted valuation and was capped at $0.0999 per token.
- Results: The Block reported on 30 October 2025 that bids topped $1.39 billion at the capped price, 27.8 times the amount on offer, from more than 50,000 participants. The sale itself raised about $50 million.
- Allocation: tokens were allocated after a review, so most bidders received less than they asked for.
What these sales have in common: the auction sets the price, a large oversubscription leads to heavy pro-rata cuts or selective allocation, and there are eligibility rules and lockups. A large committed figure does not tell you how much was actually raised.
Sectors where new tokens are appearing
The figures below are as of 25 October 2026 unless dated otherwise.
Stablecoins and tokenized real-world assets
- Stablecoins: about $302.6 billion of dollar-pegged stablecoins were in circulation on 25 October 2026, according to DeFiLlama. That is below the roughly $316 billion DeFiLlama recorded in June 2026.
- Tokenized assets: RWA.xyz shows $39.01 billion in "distributed" tokenized real-world assets (assets that holders can transfer on-chain) and $389.22 billion in "represented" assets (assets recorded on a blockchain but not freely transferable).
- Largest funds: BlackRock's BUIDL fund is listed at $2.2 billion. The USDY and USYC tokens are at $2.4 billion each.
- What to check in a launch: who holds the underlying assets, which legal structure applies, and who is allowed to redeem.
Prediction markets
- Polymarket: on 7 October 2025, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, agreed to invest up to $2 billion in cash in Polymarket at about $8 billion before the investment. Polymarket described it as roughly $9 billion afterwards.
- POLY token: Polymarket's marketing chief said in October 2025 that a POLY token and airdrop would follow its US app rollout. Its parent company filed "POLY" trademark applications in February 2026. As of 25 October 2026 no launch date or eligibility rules have been published, so lists of "POLY airdrop criteria" are guesswork.
- Kalshi: Kalshi is a CFTC-regulated prediction market with no token. Its $1 billion Series F was reported at a $22 billion valuation. Reuters reported on 30 September 2026 that it was in advanced talks to raise about $1 billion at $40 billion. That round has not been announced as closed.
AI networks
Bittensor (TAO) cut its emissions in half for the first time on 14 December 2025, according to Tokenomist: daily issuance fell from 7,200 to 3,600 TAO.
What to check in an AI token: whether demand comes from fees paid for compute or inference, or mainly from new token issuance.
Bitcoin staking
- Babylon: DeFiLlama shows about $3.29 billion locked in Babylon on 25 October 2026. Babylon's own recap of the fourth quarter of 2025 cited around 60,000 BTC staked.
- Read TVL with care: this figure mostly measures bitcoin delegated into staking scripts. It does not show trading activity.
Privacy computation (FHE)
Zama's launch moved FHE from research into a traded token. The model is simple: fees are burned and rewards are minted. What remains to be seen is whether fee demand can keep up with the yearly emissions.
Checklist for any upcoming sale or TGE
- Confirm the sale on the project's own domain. Check the date, the contract address and the official sale page. Aggregator calendars often disagree with each other.
- Check the legal paperwork. For EU offers, look for a notified MiCA white paper. For US offers, look for the exemption the issuer claims. Regulation Crypto Assets is still only proposed.
- Read the sale mechanics. Is it an auction or a fixed price? Is there a cap per buyer? Which countries are excluded? Are there KYC requirements, lockups, or a refund process if you are not allocated?
- Separate committed money from money raised. Oversubscription means most bidders get partial allocations.
- Map the supply. Note the float at the TGE, the unlock schedule for the team and investors, and the yearly emissions. If fees are burned, compare the burn with new issuance.
- Check where demand comes from. It should be fees paid for a working product, not mainly new token rewards.
- Verify the code. Look for published audits, verified contracts, and who controls upgrade keys.
- Treat urgency as a red flag. Direct messages, "whitelist closing" countdowns and lookalike domains are common in fake sales.
