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SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

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11–20 of 343 posts

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#11
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving away a security that is still considered a security. That doesn't mean it won't be regulated as a security.

Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. So clearly the same sort of asset is considered a security sometimes but not other times , essentially whenever the SEC decides.

> Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC.

Why is that ?

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#12
post #2

"The complaint further alleges that Kik marketed the Kin tokens as an investment opportunity. Kik allegedly told investors that rising demand would drive up the value of Kin, and that Kik would undertake crucial work to spur that demand, including by incorporating the tokens into its messaging app, creating a new Kin transaction service, and building a system to reward other companies that adopt Kin. At the time Kik…

"Doesn't this throw up all the red flags of a scam", the age-old question.

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#13
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethereum also had an ICO (paid in Bitcoin) and it delivered. Cosmos held an ICO and delivered. Not all ICOs are scams.

I think the point is those are the outliers and the majority are scams.

Ethereum is an outlier in the cryptocurrency world?

Ethereum is the reason there have been so many ICOs in the past 3 years.

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#14
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving away a security that is still considered a security. That doesn't mean it won't be regulated as a security.

Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. So clearly the same sort of asset is considered a security sometimes but not other times , essentially whenever the SEC decides.

Because Bitcoin and Ethereum are not stand-ins for shares in a particular entity.

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. So clearly the same sort of asset is considered a security sometimes but not other times , essentially whenever the SEC decides.

> Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. Why is that ?

Bitcoin and Ethereum do not pass the Howey Test because they are "sufficiently decentralized", primarily because no single enterprise is responsible for developing it.

But there is no framework on how exactly one becomes sufficiently decentralized, and because Ethereum had an ICO and is not a security, we know there is a way to do an ICO without needing to be registered. Unfortunately the current regulatory framework is opaque. The SEC "knows them when they sees them" so to speak but cannot explain clearly how to avoid becoming a security.

My hope is that this lawsuit will result in clear guidance on how to become a Bitcoin or Ethereum, which will significantly help boost the industry.

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#16
So what happens to Kik now? Funding-wise, I mean.

The press release says that: "the company’s management predicted internally that it would run out of money in 2017. In early 2017, the company sought to pivot to a new type of business, which it financed through the sale of one trillion digital tokens."

I'm guessing that they spent a decent amount of the money they raised through the ICO. If they have to give it back, will they have to take on even more funding from a VC at even worse terms?

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#17
post #3

While I look forward to the outcome of this, it's worth noting that the SEC has claimed that "airdrops", or simply giving away tokens to others for free, should also be considered securities, as well as "pre-mines", where you mine cryptocurrency before the public receives it. The SEC has an ever expanding view of what it should be responsible for regulating. I cannot understand how issuing a digital asset without rec…

The continuous pump-and-dump activity that you see in the crypto space is a clear demonstration that they should be regulated by the SEC.

Regulation is unpopular among the people inside the regulated industry, but it protects society as a whole.

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#18
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. So clearly the same sort of asset is considered a security sometimes but not other times , essentially whenever the SEC decides.

> Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. Why is that ?

"The CFTC has designated bitcoin as a commodity. Fraud and manipulation involving bitcoin traded in interstate commerce are appropriately within the purview of the CFTC, as is the regulation of commodity futures tied directly to bitcoin. That said, products linked to the value of underlying digital assets, including bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, may be structured as securities products subject to registration under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Investment Company Act of 1940."

https://www.sec.gov/news/public-statement/statement-clayton-...

Re: SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

#20
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're giving away a security that is still considered a security. That doesn't mean it won't be regulated as a security.

Yet Bitcoin and Ethereum are not considered securities by the SEC. So clearly the same sort of asset is considered a security sometimes but not other times , essentially whenever the SEC decides.

The SEC doesn't decide whether a token is a security or not. It either is or it isn't, and the determination they make is based on work thst any company can and should do themselves before issuing any tokens in any form. There are clear methods that can be followed to know whether or not you are going to get a scary letter later.

Going through these measures to understand if what you are issuing is a security is not unusually difficult. It does take time, and often requires seeking good legal advice.

The strategy many of the worst ico's used, of trying to write their way around the very real considerations of securities laws, was poorly thought out and now they are paying the price.

There are many instances of projects that went about this the right way, I.e Filecoin, Ocean Protocol, Cardstack.

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