The price of Ethereum continued to drop over the weekend as investors feared that a continuing investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission may result in a rapid decline in the number of initial coin offerings that use the cryptocurrency.

Ethereum is both a smart-contracts-focused blockchain platform and a cryptocurrency in itself, although the token side of Ethereum is often referred to as simply Ether or ETH. Because the Ethereum blockchain has support built into it for smart contracts, in contrast to the bitcoin blockchain, it has become the most popular blockchain used for ICOs.

On top of ICOs using the Ethereum blockchain, most accept ETH, often exclusively, for payment as well. That means that investors who want to buy into an ICO are required to buy ETH to make the investment, driving demand. If there are fewer ICOs, there will be fewer investors who need to buy ETH to buy in, hence the fear driving the price pressure.

The SEC publicly disclosed its interest in the ICO market in July, saying that tokens tied to equity constitute financial securities and are therefore subject to securities law. Since that time, the commission has shut down a number of dubious ICOs but more recently has expanded its investigation into the entire industry.

Ars Technica reported that at a conference Thursday, the SEC acknowledged that currently it had “dozens” of open investigations into ICOs. That confirmation came after Overstock.com Inc. disclosed March 1 that its tZERO ICO was under investigation by the SEC. That in turn was followed by a report March 3 that Michael Arrington’s ICO had also been subpoenaed, with Arrington saying at the time that every cryptofund he had talked was also under SEC investigation.

Ethereum hit a high of $1,386.67 Jan. 13, before dropping to $800 to $900 range during February. As of 10:20 p.m. EDT, ETH was trading at $529.58, down from $730.43 a week ago.

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