This paper aims to bring together two areas seemingly far apart in finance-the world of sustainable and social finance and the largely unregulated markets in initial coin offerings (ICOs). Insights of cross-fertilisation can be derived to deal with a question that sustainable and social finance has struggled with, viz, the scaling up of such finance by fund-raising in markets rather than through institutions or intermediaries. 1 We see the underlying technology that has powered ICOs to be relevant for the scaling up of marketization in sustainable and social finance, but will argue for a new regulatory approach in order to support the market revolution we advocate. The gaps in finance for sustainable and social needs are well-canvassed. These gaps are largely due to the slow pace in successful marketization of such finance, perceived to be often incompatible with the needs and requirements of investors in conventional markets. We offer a proposal to scale up the marketization of sustainable and social finance, by building on insights derived from the controversial ICO markets. We argue that ICO markets hold insights for transforming sustainable and social finance into a different asset class altogether, and the application of these insights may greatly increase the marketization potential of such finance. In this proposal we move away from treating sustainable and social finance as securities or securitised assets, and propose regulatory reforms to support such a new asset class. These regulatory reforms move away from a merely incremental approach that is focused on encouraging conventional investors to diversify their portfolios to include sustainable and social finance. In this analysis, we are not seeking to fit sustainable or social finance into ICOs or suggest that they should take advantage of the hitherto unregulated ICO markets. We are also keenly aware of the nascent efforts in regulatory treatment of ICOs, especially in relation to the extension of securities regulation over ICOs by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. We argue that policy-makers would miss the innovative and transformative elements in ICOs if an approach is forced upon ICOs to submit to existing regulatory regimes for securities and commodities. We take a different approach that breaks away from the conventional mould, arguing that sustainable and social finance can be transformed into a new asset class with the help of technology. Such a new asset class would have expanded market appeal as well. This result will however crucially require the support of new regulatory policy. In taking this approach, we accept the enormous financing potential of private markets, albeit in areas of sustainable and social finance that may deliver public goods. 2 The public interest in the outcomes of sustainable and social finance would be optimally met by drawing upon
