Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator • Hacker News Board

Re: Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator

#191

Post by RexetBlell » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 9:36 AM UTC

stale2002 wrote: post #44

mrwong wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why dont we regulate everything like that. Why do we allow people to spend 2M$ on a Car or 6k$ on a bag? Why do we allow people to buy unlimited lottery tickets or gamble everything away in the casino? Those examples have cleary less benefit for society then the dumbest investment strategy. Let people invest, sure tons if people will lose their shirt but they will learn from it and stay away. Everyone else in the soc…

The problem is not people spending money on "worthless/ frivolous" things. Investor protection are about Fraud protection. NOT, because it is good or bad to spend money on something. If you spend 2 Million dollars on a car, you are getting exactly what you were sold. If you buy a lottery ticket, you are getting exactly the odds that were promised to you. But investments are a different story. Someone is trying to pro…

No ICO is ever sold as investment (as far as I know). In a many cases they explicitly say that the tokens are completely useless to not get in trouble with the regulators. For example:

"The EOS Tokens do not have any rights, uses, purpose, attributes, functionalities or features, express or implied, including, without limitation, any uses, purpose, attributes, functionalities or features on the EOS Platform."

It's (almost) impossible to find words like "invest" or "investment" on ICO websites or white papers.

Re: Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator

#192

Post by notyourday » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 3:05 PM UTC

conanbatt wrote: post #119

notyourday wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I do. ICOs are scams.

And in good part provoked by the regulations you are in principle protecting..the people that put money into the ICO's most likely cannot legally invest in any startup in the U.S.

Of course they can:

they (a) lie on their attestation and (b) waive their right to sue

Re: Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator

#193

Post by eternalban » Wed, Nov 29, 2017, 2:31 PM UTC

fooker wrote: post #190

eternalban wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Curious: Does that also apply to "democratic" processes? Should only "accredited citizens" have the right to vote?

Is that truly a bad idea? Having to pass a test to demonstrate you understand the policy choices and how they affect you could be a good idea if done impartially.

Well, yes, it does have some merit but "done impartially" is the hair in the ointment, isn't it.

But to the point, categorical denial of access to a participatory space -- here based on your bank balance -- is akin to denying voting rights based on gender or color.

Re: Initial Coin Offerings Horrify a Former S.E.C. Regulator

#194

Post by vel0city » Fri, Dec 01, 2017, 1:13 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #169

vel0city wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW, in most of the US gambling is illegal and lotteries are often regulated by the State.

There's loads of casinos though: https://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/united-states/map And aren't states mostly the beneficiaries of lotteries? Here the revenue is supposed to go to schools or something.

That source is pretty questionable. I'm pretty familiar with Texas' gambling laws so I was surprised to see so many "casinos" in Texas. Upon further review, many of those points are improperly placed, with actual casinos being out of state but simply matching a partial address. I'd take that map with a massive grain of salt, as chances are a high percentage of points are probably wrong. Of the three casinos near DFW, two are out of state with the third being a horse racing track. The one outside Austin really exists in Indiana. It also shows cruise ships, which usually don't begin gambling until they're well offshore.

I'm not going to deny there are many casinos (there are plenty) but the OP's statement of "gambling and the lottery would also be illegal" seems to miss that in probably the vast majority of the US, gambling and operating lotteries is illegal. For example, Texas recently had to have a constitutional amendment to allow sports teams to hold charitable raffles.

https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Proposition_5,_Definition_of_P...