Depends on the country. The phrase you're looking for is "ex post facto". Doesn't fly in the US. That said, if I'm reading this article correctly, all that h

Depends on the country. The phrase you're looking for is "ex post facto". Doesn't fly in the US. That said, if I'm reading this article correctly, all that happened was that the SEC issued guidance on the legality (that is, not legal) of various forms of ICO. That doesn't mean ICOs were legal before, just that the SEC hadn't issued guidance about it. If your argument in court is "well nobody told me specifically that my exact actions were illegal, because your honor, I stabbed that guy while hopping on one foot on a Tuesday while it was raining", then the court tends to take a dim view of it. I don't know the case, but if Kik's argument was "well we sold a security before anyone told us specifically that this thing is actually a security", it might pan out in a similar fashion.