It is clear that the SEC is going to do an enforcement action against a number of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), and the people who are
selling utility tokens to investors for Bitcoin or Ether cryptocurrencies.
Not exact matches
Similar ICOs raised billions of dollars this year, with the organizers in most cases claiming that they were
selling «
utility tokens» that were not securities.
Some ICOs
sell «
utility tokens,» which users need to buy if they want to use the company's app, network, platform, or protocol.
In July, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned investors about «improper» ICO schemes and issued rules on how startups can decide whether or not they are
selling securities or
utility tokens.
«People are sticking to their guns saying these are
utility tokens, but they are smart enough to know we are not going to
sell any of them in a privy sale to people who aren't accredited investors,» explains Goren.
There are generally two types of
token sold; security
tokens and
utility tokens.
An issuer
selling tokens in an ICO to Canadians would certainly have its work cut out for it in attempting to argue it was in fact
selling utilities, commodities or licenses to use some sort of yet - to - be developed platform.
There are a number of examples in Canadian case law where issuers were attempting to
sell «
utilities» or something similar to modern day
tokens and coins, where the court simply didn't buy the argument.
In fact, many see the Munchee administrative order, which determined the issuer had
sold unregistered securities (even though the
token was to be used for
utility on a platform in the future), as an example of how the SEC would view
token issuers.
In the months since The DAO enforcement action, the SEC repeatedly had warned the public about potentially fraudulent
token sales, pump and dump schemes, cyberscams, celebrity promoters and the like, but little guidance had been provided by the SEC with respect to
token sellers purporting to
sell tokens with some functional
utility.
During ivyKoin's
token sale, 40 % of
tokens are being
sold to the public immediately and will have a distinct form of
utility upon release.
The HD -
token is based on Ethereum protocol, which will be
sold out as a
utility appliance for the Platform.
As part of that journey, Wala is the launch partner for a new financial services
utility token, Dala, which will be
sold and issued in a crowdfunding
token sale this November and December.
Credo buyers do not expect to profit from the efforts of others because the
tokens are
sold for the
utility of the services that they can be used for via BitBounce.
The Cardozo Blockchain Project, along with the contributors to this report are working together to develop alternative frameworks or, at a minimum, guiding principles that can help guide projects seeking to
sell or pre-
sell utility tokens.
There is a growing number of services and platforms built on blockchain that utilize
utility tokens that work within their ecosystem to buy,
sell, and trade assets.