
Venture Capitalists Seek ‘Safe Harbor’ for Virtual Currencies - sergeant3
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/technology/virtual-currency-securities.html
======
cfadvan
_The group met with the S.E.C. in Washington on March 28 to present their idea
for a safe harbor that would allow some tokens to be categorized as “utility
tokens” rather than securities. An S.E.C. spokesman declined to comment on the
meeting._

Based on what the SEC has already said and done, and given the reality of
these tokens and ICO’s, it seems highly unlikely that they will support the
non-securities argument. I realize that some think that they won’t be ruled
securities by sheer force of wanting that to be so, or think they can take the
money and run. To those people I’d refer the history of the SEC, which
describes an orginazatiom which can be glacially slow, and glacially
inevitable.

~~~
kolinko
The difference this time is that blockchain companies are relatively easy to
start outside of US, and other countries will gladly grab the market.

EU will allow kickstarter-style equity crowdfunding from July 21st this year,
up to €1M (accessible to general public, not just "accredited investors"), and
- depending on a state - equity crowdfunding up onto €8M with minimal
paperwork.

Plus, there are simplified rules for handling security tokens in some of the
countries. If memory serves me right, setting a crypto exchange dealing with
security tokens in Germany costs ~40k€ in license fees, and ~400k€ in all
legal expenses. If you have it in one EU state, you're allowed to transact in
all of them, and all the rest of the world too (US excluded).

Worth noting also, that unlike webtech, in fintech you can build a feasible
business while banning US. It hurts, but it's doable - especially when US
startups cannot compete :)

~~~
cfadvan
Wherever you go, if you’re a US citizen or do business in the US the SEC has
long arm jurisdiction. The degree to which they can reach out and just take
would be shocking to anyone who didn’t already know about their powers.

[http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-
long...](http://www.arthurcox.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/The-long-and-
punitive-arm-of-the-SEC-Nov-2017.pdf)

[https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?ref...](https://scholarship.law.berkeley.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1088&context=bblj)

[http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/htm/CP.17.htm](http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/CP/htm/CP.17.htm)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-
arm_jurisdiction](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-arm_jurisdiction)

In fact as you can see, you don’t even need to be a US citizen or company. The
SEC can take its time and when it has a mind to, just reach out and fuck up
all of the cryptocurrencies they decide broke the rules, and do it
retroactively. They have a _ton_ of power, backed by the US and a number of
treaties. If you’re in the EU, the SEC won’t even have to break a sweat.

