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SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

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Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#21

Post by Animats »

joeyspn wrote: post #2

BOOM! the game just changed... > In light of the facts and circumstances, the agency has decided not to bring charges in this instance, or make findings of violations in the Report, but rather to caution the industry and market participants: the federal securities laws apply to those who offer and sell securities in the United States, regardless whether the issuing entity is a traditional company or a decentralized a…

Yes. The SEC is indicating that they're not going to apply this retroactively. Any upcoming Initial Coin Offering to US persons, though, is in trouble. Like all the ones listed here.[1]

[1] https://www.icoalert.com/

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#22

Post by brucephillips »

binarymax wrote: post #19
smokeyj wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This literally changes nothing. Regulated companies already knew what the findings would be. Unregulated companies still don't care.

This changes lots of things. You can't just open an DAO/ETH/BTC exchange, you need to be compliant with securities law and regulation. Those who operate as an exchange now but do not file the proper paperwork (which is expensive) should expect audits, fines, and shutdown.

I don't think the findings unequivocally imply that ETH and BTC are securities. Or am I missing something?

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#24

Post by jandrese »

Cshelton wrote: post #13
kensai wrote: post #7

Look at the beating the market gets right now (as of 13 minutes after the news were posted). https://coinmarketcap.com

To be fair, the market was down around that much today already. The SEC article has had little to no effect as of yet. I also don't see it having much effect at all as all of those tokens are traded in secondary markets.

Or everybody who mattered already knew what was going to happen from their insider sources and were trading in advance of the announcement.

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#25

Post by PhasmaFelis »

m777z wrote: post #11

I'm not terribly happy with the decision, though I can't say I'm surprised. I enjoy the drama of the Wild West that is Ethereum and the rest of the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Minimal regulation encourages innovation, while regulated markets can exist for people who want stability and certain guarantees to prevent fraud (or at least make it difficult). I wonder what would happen if financial regulations became more "op…

> I enjoy the drama of the Wild West that is Ethereum and the rest of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

"Drama" is not really a desirable characteristic for most users of a market.

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#26

Post by oneplane »

binarymax wrote: post #19
smokeyj wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This literally changes nothing. Regulated companies already knew what the findings would be. Unregulated companies still don't care.

This changes lots of things. You can't just open an DAO/ETH/BTC exchange, you need to be compliant with securities law and regulation. Those who operate as an exchange now but do not file the proper paperwork (which is expensive) should expect audits, fines, and shutdown.

No, they don't. That organisation only works in the USA, they can't do anything for 'the world'.

Let me clarify this: Just because the US SEC wants something doesn't make it happen on the internet. They can do things with governments and companies, and that's about it.

If some random hacker in Ukraine decides to use a ETH or BTC or smart contract or create a new coin, the SEC isn't going to be able to influence that. There is no point of control there.

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#28

Post by josaka »

brucephillips wrote: post #14
robbiet480 wrote: post #4

This appears to only applies to ICOs that offer something that is like a security, such as the DAO, not voucher based ICOs like Primalbase or Storj EDIT: Added appears to since IANAL

It does seem to be ambiguous. If you read the qualifications in section III: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/investreport/34-81207.pdf , they seem to apply to voucher tokens as well. Especially "A reasonable expectation of profit".

This seems like an important distinction, i.e., between an ownership token and a "voucher token," assuming the latter is a token that gives the holder the right to some service. Curious how a groupon isn't a security if a voucher token is.

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#29

Post by artursapek »

kensai wrote: post #7

Look at the beating the market gets right now (as of 13 minutes after the news were posted). https://coinmarketcap.com

Bitcoin and others are actually up if you look at a high resolution chart: https://cryptowat.ch/bitfinex/btcusd/1m

Re: SEC Issues Report Concluding DAO Tokens, a Digital Asset, Were Securities

#30

Post by oneplane »

dmitrygr wrote: post #5

Good. This should help bring some sanity and accountability. they were both quite needed

Why? Nobody is forcing crypto currenency on anyone. I get that registered companies might have some other deal with the govenment and with hacker organisations, but a free and open (and non-country-bound) system should really not be 'managed' by some random organisation in a random country.
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