Life Sciences Quarterly: A View From Washington: What to Expect From the SEC
The organizers of an initial coin offering (ICO) recently won dismissal of an investor’s fraud claims by establishing that their public risk disclosures negated the investor’s claims of reliance on alleged misstatements. The...more
This BitBlog summary focuses on the continuing actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) against the issuers of noncompliant initial coin offerings (“ICOs”) and other crypto related transactions including...more
This white paper discusses considerations related to conducting a token offering under Regulation A under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). The benefit of this strategy is that it can allow broad...more
On July 10, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared Blockstack PBC’s offering statement “qualified”, thus allowing Blockstack to commence the distribution and sale of its Stacks Tokens under Regulation A. ...more
After a long wait, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has permitted a startup company to raise funds from the general public through a supervised security token offering (STO) under Reg A+ regulations....more
On July 10 and July 11, 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) qualified the Regulation A token offerings of Blockstack PBC and YouNow, Inc., nearly two years after the DAO Report and a year and half after...more
On July 10, 2019, Blockstack Token LLC (“Blockstack”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blockstack PBC, a Delaware public benefit corporation, became the first company to have an offering of digital assets qualified by the U.S....more
Blockstack previously announced they expected to be the first Regulation A qualified ICO. I blogged that this was a likely a correct prediction. It turns out it was true as the SEC has qualified the ICO....more
The big takeaway from Day 1 of Fed Chair Powell’s Congressional testimony is that a July rate cut is still definitely on the table, despite last week’s strong US jobs numbers. As the Times puts it, “That the Fed is...more
While SEC FinHub’s new framework announced last week for identifying crypto-securities suggests continued resistance for those using digital assets to access capital markets, an SEC no-action letter issued the same day to...more
On December 19, 2018, the SEC announced that it had adopted final rules that allow reporting companies to rely on the Regulation A exemption from registration for their securities offerings. Until recently, the only way...more
Trump signed the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, the acronym for which doesn’t spell anything pithy, late last month. The EGRRCPA (ugh!), here, pulls back regulations implemented by the...more
In a recent article, we discussed why the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and its staff (the “Staff”) continue to think most cryptocurrencies and other crypto assets (“tokens”) are securities at the time they are...more
How should an initial coin offering, or ICO, be conducted? Despite a burgeoning ICO market, there is little consensus. ICOs are offerings of digital assets, or tokens, generally associated with a platform or project to be...more
• Issuing an initial coin offering (ICO) is a new and innovative way for companies to infuse capital into their enterprise. However, several regulatory agencies have increased their scrutiny of ICOs, including the U.S....more
Spotify’s unconventional (non-IPO) public listing is off and running, and though it’s early, it sure feels as if the risk was a good one, with the market valuing the company north of $30 billion....more
The Senate convenes today at 4 p.m. to resume consideration of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (S. 2155). The House returns Tuesday at noon. Lawmakers are still trying to wrap up their work...more
With the proliferation of smaller companies seeking to grow their businesses, gain credibility and access capital, Regulation A+ is now increasingly being used as a fundraising tool. ...more
Commission’s action shows the limited utility of the utility token-security token distinction. Regulator finds that sellers of blockchain-based digital coins cannot dodge securities law by calling the coins “utility...more
Some interesting links we found across the web this week: Building Your Founding Team—Is There a Magic Number? In case you missed it elsewhere on this blog, our own Jeff Stein and Jason Kropp shared a few thoughts on...more
Initial coin offerings (ICOs), token pre-sales, and similar sales of blockchain-based coins and tokens are quickly becoming an important fundraising option, and an important method of attempting to seed a token-based platform...more