New York — Initial coin offerings (ICOs) have raised billions of dollars for start-ups while attracting criminals and authorities around the globe. Now, the young market may get some help cleaning up from the Big Four consulting firms. In recent months, the largest accounting firms have started — albeit cautiously — offering services specialising in the risky market for ICOs. The fundraising mechanism, where a company creates a new digital currency and sells it to the public, has become too big for the Big Four to ignore. ICOs generated $5.6bn last year, driven by speculative investments, according to a report from research firm TokenData and Fabric Ventures, a blockchain investment fund. The surge has caught the attention of regulators. China and South Korea banned ICOs outright in September. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued subpoenas this year as part of a crackdown. Last week, the SEC said it halted an ICO, alleging the founders "masterminded a fraudulent IC...
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