Participants contend the blockchain tokens are going "to the moon." Others argue, since they've never been registered, they run afoul of securities law.

The second largest crowdsale and best known, is Ethereum at $18,439,086. Ethereum developers say their blockchain is a distributed smart-contract platform "fueled" by a native digital currency similar to Bitcoin. Ethereum's 2014 "Ether sale" preceded it's May 2016 crowdsale for the DAO, a so-called "decentralized autonomous organization" managed via Ethereum smart contracts.

Ethereum and DAO developers currently face scrutiny in the wake of a $55 million compromise of the DAO by an attacker. They are deciding whether to intervene and undo the damage done by the draining of funds.