The Swiss financial regulator has outlined how it intends to apply existing rules to initial coin offerings, a part of the cryptocurrency market that is attracting growing scrutiny from global policymakers.

Switzerland's Financial Market Supervisory Authority said it has seen a sharp increase in the number of ICOs planned or carried out in the country. It added: "Given a legal and regulatory framework with partially unclear applicability, Finma is today publishing guidelines... setting out how it intends to treat enquiries from ICO organisers."