SEC: US Securities Laws 'May Apply' to Token Sales
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently issued a statement in which it is said that the offering and sale of digital tokens "are subject to the requirements of the federal securities law." The agency, in its statement, revealed that it had been investigating the issuance of tokens connected to The DAO, the Ethereum-based funding vehicle that collapsed dramatically last summer following an exploit of a flaw in its code.
According to the SEC, those "DAO tokens" constitute securities, though the agency said that it was not going to pursue any charges in connection with the project, but is releasing its finding "to caution the industry and market participants." The agency said:
"...the Commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest to issue this Report in order to stress that the U.S. federal securities law may apply to various activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to effectuate a particular offer or sale."
As a result, many altcoins related to the ICO scenario have dropped in value, a scenario that has also been made possible due to Bitcoin's upcoming UAHF and the concerns that it is causing investors.
Read more here and read the full SEC report here https://www.scribd.com/document/354711758/SEC-Report?irgwc=1&content=10079&campaign=Skimbit%2C%20Ltd.&ad_group=78380X1529106X060fecb06f2155175d03e36fb8ca79fd&keyword=ft750noi&source=impactradius&medium=affiliate#from_embed
Congratulations @tomahawkcoin! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPI'm not sure how the SEC arrives at the decision that tokens are a security since they are neither a stock, bond or futures contract. tokens do not convey ownership in a corporation like stack, they do not earn interest like a bond . Oh dang wait, the one possible way they get there is if the token is tradeable at a future date for a specified price for a crypto-coin!
Tokens would appear to be a slippery slope : (
Just my 2 cents
upvoted
Mafia wants their cut, since ICO's have been raising hundreds of millions as of late like Tezos, but how can they get involved since they do not recognize BTC as currency but as property, it's beyond me, the community needs smart Lawyers to get involved.