Coindesk published an article today -
https://www.coindesk.com/fear-hodling-mit-blockchain-experts-weigh-impact-sec-crackdown/amp/
The article talks about the recently concluded "Business of Blockchain" conference at MIT. One topic was of particular interest at the conference - Regulation. While everyone was welcoming towards it as it brings further legal clarity, a few key points stood out -
- Ethereum and Ripple could be classified as securities
- Airdrops, though considered to be a good way to circumvent regulation, are probably even worse than token sales as far as regulatory adherence is concerned
- Legal penalties for founders and further consequences for the whole token economy in general
For a token to be classified as securities, it needs to pass the Howey Test - Any investment in a "commom enterprise" offering an expectation of profits from effort of others.
Given the nature of the test and the rationale mentioned for treating something as a security, I wonder what the consequences could be for a token and its community, once the token is classified as a security -
Divisions within the SEC could bring forward Civil or Criminal cases against the founders of these tokens for misleading the investing public about the potential of the token, company's revenue/growth.
Lack of proper investment documents, false presentation of risks for the investors and false advertisements on social media could be examples of promising unfair things to the public.
Cases can be brought forward of failure to disclose material information or for cases pertaining to insider trading.
The treatment of the token security class is not clear with respect to debt and equity security classes. So far owning a token does not mean anything in most cases. There is no ownership of the enterprise and no promise of security. This could also be a potential cause of concern.
penalties could include financial penalties, jailtime for founders, closing down of such commom enterprises and subsequent loss of investment in some of the worst cases.
for reasonable breaches of securities law, cases may be settled with a financial fines.
Airdrops to investors in sanctioned countries could lead to jailtime. Anyone promoting airdrops or tokens doing airdrops could face serious consequences.
False promise of decentralization - most dApps are not decentralized. There are equity holders that truly own the token enterprise.
So the crux is that this is something that needs to be carefully monitored.
What do you guys think? Will tokens survive and will this is be all talk and no action? Let me know in comments below.
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