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SEC Charges Kik With Conducting $100M Unregistered ICO

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

#242
post #204

This was inevitable. As I said two years ago[1], just listen to Kik's own words: "When we looked at raising another round [of VC funding], we asked ourselves how do we answer the question about how we will become a profitable business [...] We didn’t have an answer we really believed." ... so instead they decided to raise money from unsophisticated investors in an unregulated market, where nobody asks such inconvenie…

A refreshing perspective compared to the usual HN "it's your fault (& no one else's) that you got defrauded on Kickstarter" position.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20078347

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

#244

This was inevitable. As I said two years ago[1], just listen to Kik's own words: "When we looked at raising another round [of VC funding], we asked ourselves how do we answer the question about how we will become a profitable business [...] We didn’t have an answer we really believed." ... so instead they decided to raise money from unsophisticated investors in an unregulated market, where nobody asks such inconvenie…

The regulations indeed exist because fraud in this vein was prevalent and it made it difficult to compete if you weren't defrauding investors.

Do you have any evidence for that?

There are other ways of addressing fraud besides violating people's right to freely contract with other consenting adults, like punishing those who commit fraud to deter others from committing the crime, and public education campaigns.

The idea that the government has a right to deem a certain class of investors as "unsophisticated", and thus better off deprived of the right to decide for themselves what to invest in, and prohibit an entire class of interactions, on the basis that too many instances of that class are fraudulent, upends basic principles of liberal society.

The poorest households in the US spend 9% of their income on lottery tickets, showing that you can't legislate people out of misusing their funds. If anything, the attempt to do so deprives them of better investment opportunities, and better opportunities to learn how the investment world works.

And this isn't free market idealism. The crypto/token investment market has become vastly more sophisticated over the last 4 years. Token sales that would have raised millions 4 years get nothing today. People need to have a bit more faith in other people, and in freedom.

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

#245
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> scam ICO It seems like you might of repeated yourself... This is the cryptocurrency roosters coming home to roost, no?

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

What did Ethereum delivery? What works on their centralised house of cards network?

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

#246
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Eth and BTc are quite different and Eth is absolutely a security. Eth meets the Howey test. BTc arguably does not due to its manner of distribution and initiation.

What entity are you investing in when you purchase ETH?

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

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nurses aren't regulated by HIPAA, hospitals and medical device companies are and they fight HIPAA all the time. Bankers don't deal with margin requirements...you're thinking of investors. Contractors don't fight building codes because they just work for others, but developers (that hire the contractors) do, as do realtors. Brokers do fight broker licensing all the time, because it restricts what they can profitably s…

This isn't really the point, but nurses are regulated by HIPAA. Everyone who touches patient data is personally liable for the safety of that data and may face civil and/or criminal penalties if a breach occurs.

No, if you're going to make a silly argument you need to be aware that nurses are regulated by their licensing boards.

The HIPAA regulation is literally just a regulation that minimally impacts their handling of patient data, not their professional practice. Their responsibility is literally to follow the data-protection policies set forth by the facilities they work for.

Technically I was once regulated by HIPAA as well...when working for healthcare clients, with respect to patient data.

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

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The regulations indeed exist because fraud in this vein was prevalent and it made it difficult to compete if you weren't defrauding investors.

Do you have any evidence for that? There are other ways of addressing fraud besides violating people's right to freely contract with other consenting adults, like punishing those who commit fraud to deter others from committing the crime, and public education campaigns. The idea that the government has a right to deem a certain class of investors as "unsophisticated", and thus better off deprived of the right to deci…

not to be that guy, but… username checks out! (inb4 hn is turning into reddit)

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

#250
post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any evidence for that? There are other ways of addressing fraud besides violating people's right to freely contract with other consenting adults, like punishing those who commit fraud to deter others from committing the crime, and public education campaigns. The idea that the government has a right to deem a certain class of investors as "unsophisticated", and thus better off deprived of the right to deci…

not to be that guy, but… username checks out! (inb4 hn is turning into reddit)

Yea I believe that consensual interactions, whether it's in the civil sphere, with high-risk sexual practices, or the economic sphere, with high-risk investments, should not face any government prohibition.
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