“The Report confirms that issuers of distributed ledger or blockchain technology-based securities must register offers and sales of such securities unless a valid exemption applies. Those participating in unregistered offerings also may be liable for violations of the securities laws.”
I’m assuming this new regulation would be applied going forward and not retroactively. Otherwise every US citizen who’s participated in an ICO is liable for violations. How crazy would that be!
This is directly referring to DAO tokens. However, if the SEC deems other ICOs securities, there may be serious actions taken. Everyone should have coins in cold storage, unless they are actively trading them, and take necessary precautions to account for risk. Would Safe Exchange Coin be classified as a security?
Initial guidance says we’re OK. We should post an official and complete opinion asap. But the way our ico took place and also long before these regulations came forward we’re in good shape.
SEC Regulations of ICOs require “enforcement”. Unfortunately, exchanges like Bittrex and Poloniex are based in the US. This puts them within reach. I believe they will be required to “cooperate” with the SEC going forward.
The EOS ICO has already worked around this situation by refusing to sale to US IP addresses and basing their ICO outside of the US. However, US residents still acquire EOS coins through Bitfinex, a Hong Kong based exchange.
I believe ICOs are becoming the new global stock market. Decentralize market places like SAFEX + Chille Network are in for a wild ride!