Crypto Startups Welcomed by Boost VC

Boost VC Issues Call for Crypto Startups

From CCN.com Oct 29, 2018

Technology startup accelerator Boost VC has announced that it is accepting applications from crypto startups to join Tribe 12, its latest accelerator program cohort. Since 2012, Boost VC has graduated several cohorts with more than 75 crypto-related projects including prominent blockchain projects like Etherscan, Aragon, and MyCrypto.

According to the announcement, which appeared in a Medium post, the company is seeking to invest in blockchain startups that provide solutions for cross chain functionality, front end blockchain solutions, crypto team building and maintenance, and general blockchain scaling.

‘Missing Puzzle Pieces’
Boost VC describes its investment focus for Tribe 12 as an attempt to fill in missing pieces in the blockchain and crypto adoption puzzle from an infrastructure point of view. While investors like Goldman Sachs continue to grab headlines with eye-catching investments in startups focused on crypto custody and trading solutions, Boost VC is taking its investment from a wider perspective, seeking out startups that can build nuts-and-bolts blockchain solutions such as cross-chain navigation interfaces and management solutions for the peculiar challenge of distributed crypto teams.

Applications are welcomed from startups interested in creating decentralised frameworks for commerce, communication and government similar to ConsenSys, but operating on other non-Ethereum blockchains. According to Boost VC, the goal is to explore studio builder models for quick iterations on bringing crypto mainstream. Boost VC is also looking for projects focused on the creation and management of crypto teams, which come with the unique and unprecedented challenge of being almost entirely remote, contractor-heavy instead of employee-based, and having the near-instant liquidity offered by crypto payments, which creates a different incentive model from traditional startups.

In addition, projects that create cross-chain interfaces outside of custody, exchange and wallet solutions are particularly prized for investment. This is because Boost VC sees such projects as essentially land grabs offering the opportunity to build a blockchain interaction utility that can be recreated across the other top 5 – 10 blockchain networks.

The company also says it is looking for the “Coinbase for other blockchains/dapps” as well as a possible solution for legal gambling that takes advantage of differing regulatory environments across jurisdictions. Country-specific custody solutions and security trading solutions are also mentioned.

An excerpt from the announcement reads:

“Regulatory arbitrage plays. We invest globally. Therefore we will look at teams using certain jurisdictions to their advantage. Areas of legal gambling. Custody designed for specific countries. Trading securities.”

Projects working on such solutions are encouraged to apply to Boost VC’s Tribe 12 accelerator batch.
Source: https://www.ccn.com/boost-vc-issues-call-for-crypto-startups/

Blockchain Capital Funding is Growing - Venture Capital Top 20

Top 20 Venture Capital Firms Investing in Blockchain Companies

CryptoFundResearch from June 2018

What are the top venture capital firms investing in blockchain companies and startups? This is not as simple of a question as it may first appear. What exactly is a “top” blockchain VC?  Total blockchain assets? Total number of blockchain investments? How long or how actively they’ve been investing in blockchain companies?

There’s no obvious way to rank the top venture investors in blockchain. So we included all of the above components in our rankings. You can see details of our methodology here.

The short answer is these are the 20 most important and influential venture capital companies investing in blockchain and cryptocurrency companies. They are ranked according to four key criteria: value of total blockchain investments, total number of blockchain investments, length of blockchain investment experience, and level of investment activity in the last 12 months.

Be sure to scroll to the bottom for a variety of charts, graphs, and other resources to help visualize the world of venture capital investment in blockchain and crypto.

Top 50 Blockchain VCs – Key Stats

# of Blockchain Deals, Total: 556
# of Blockchain Deals, Last 12 Months (through 6/15/2018): 282
Overall Deal Volume, Total: $1.19 billion USD
Average Deal Size: $2.1 million USD
Average # of Co-Investors: 5
Most Common Deal Type: Seed funding
Most Active Blockchain Investor: Digital Currency Group
% Investing Exclusively in crypto/blockchain assets: 34%

Top 50 Blockchain Venture Capital Firms

#1 Digital Currency Group
Digital Currency Group DCG crypto fund
Description: Digital Currency Group is clearly the most influential venture capital investor in the blockchain space. Based in New York, Digital Currency Group has made more investments in blockchain companies, and for more money, than any other investor. Not only was Digital Currency Group one of the first blockchain investors, they have made more blockchain investments in the last 12 months (15) than all but 9 other VCs have made over any period.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 58
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $78 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Basis, Ledger, Circle, Blockchain Inc.
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: Yes
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 15
Based in: New York, NY
Website: http://dcg.co

#2 Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital crypto fund
Description: Pantera barely edged out Blockchain Capital for the number two spot on our list. Based in Menlo Park where the Bay Area’s tech and VC worlds collide, Pantera ranked in the top 10 in all four criteria we looked at for our rankings. Unlike most of the pure venture capital funds on this list, Pantera is a hybrid hedge fund / venture fund making seed investments in blockchain companies as well as investing in tokens and cryptocurrencies.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 31
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $65 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Basis, Circle, Harbor, DMarket
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: Yes
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 13
Based in: Menlo Park, CA
Website: https://www.panteracapital.com

#3 Blockchain Capital
Blockchain Capital crypto fund
Description: Blockchain Capital came in a close third on our rankings of the top venture capital investors in blockchain. Like Digital Currency Group and Pantera Capital, Blockchain Capital is a pure blockchain venture fund. Their first investment in blockchain came in late 2013 with their Series A investment in BTCC, the world’s oldest Bitcoin trading platform, and since that time has made more blockchain investments than anyone but Digital Currecncy Group. Blockchain Capital is based in San Francisco, CA.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 37
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $71 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Circle, Coinbase, Blockstream, Ripple
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: Yes
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 12
Based in: San Francisco, CA
Website: http://blockchain.capital

#4 Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
andreessen horowitz ventures crypto fund
Description: Andreessen Horowitz, also know as a16z, is one of the world’s largest venture capital firms, and the first VC on our list to not invest almost exclusively in blockchain and digital assets. In fact, digital assets make up only a fraction of a16z’s more than $4 billion in assets. Andreessen got their start in blockchain investing in 2013 with an angel investment in Ripple followed by early stage venture funding of Coinbase. Since then, they have made nearly a dozen other blockchain investments in companies like Basis, Harbor, and Chia Networks. Look for Andreessen to move even farther up this list with their recent announcement of their $300 million crypto-focused fund.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 14
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $55 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Basis, Coinbase, DFINITY, Harbor
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No (but recently launched fund focused on digital assets)
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 9
Based in: Menlo Park, CA
Website: https://www.a16z.com

#5 Node Capital
Node Capital Crypto Fund LogoDescription: Unlike other top venture funds on our list that primarily make seed and series A investments in blockchain companies, Node Capital primarily invests via initial coin offerings (ICOs). Node Capital is based in Beijing and has made most of its nearly two dozen blockchain investments in Chinese startups like Fengwo and ChinaUp.com. They have been the most active blockchain investor over the last 12 months. Node was co-founded by Jun Du, CEO of Cointime.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 22
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $20 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Trip.io, HuoBi, Delphy Foundation, Fengwo
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: Yes
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 21
Based in: Beijing, China
Website: http://www.nodecap.com

#6 Boost VC
Boost VC crypto fund
Description: Boost VC is an artificial intelligence, blockchain, and crypto accelerator based in San Mateo, California. Boost began its foray into blockchain investments in 2014 with a seed round in Ripio. Since then, they have made more than 30 additional investments in crypto and blockchain including almost a dozen in the last 12 months, making them one of the world’s most active venture capital / accelerators in blockchain.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 32
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $67 million
Top Blockchain Investments: BlockCypher, Tezos, Ledger, Coinbase
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 11
Based in: San Mateo, CA
Website: https://www.boost.vc/

#7 IDG Capital
IDG Capital crypto venture and private equity fund logoDescription: IDG Capital is a private equity and venture capital fund based in New York. Like Boost VC, they invest in a variety of companies and not exclusively in blockchain and crypto assets. IDG got its start in blockchain with a Series A investment in Ripple in 2013, though they typically make later stage venture investments. IDG Capital made few other blockchain investments until 2018 when they made investments in Huoxing 24, Circle, imToken, and Mars Finance in just the first five months of the year. In addition to their main New York office, IDG has a satellite office in Bangalore, India.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 8
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $31 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Ripple, Circle, Mars Finance, imToken
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 4
Based in: New York, NY
Website: http://en.idgcapital.com

#8 Draper Associates
Draper Associates blockchain venture capital fundDescription: Draper Associates is based in San Mateo, CA and led by legendary venture investor Tim Draper. Draper makes early stage venture investments in a variety of technology, manufacturing, and healthcare companies including blockchain companies and startups.  Their first investment in blockchain came with a 2014 seed investment in Augmate, an IoT and wearables company focused on enterprise.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 17
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $25 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Coinbase, Ledger, Factom, CryptoMove
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 6
Based in: San Mateo, CA
Website: http://www.draper.vc

#9 Ceyuan Ventures
Ceyuan Ventures blockchain venture fundDescription: Ceyuan Ventures is an early stage VC based in Beijing, China, with an additional office in Hong Kong. They primarily invest in technology companies and have made a half dozen significant blockchain investments in companies like Basis, Mars Finance and Trip.io. Their first blockchain investment came in 2014, and, after making no new blockchain investments in 2016 and 2017, made four in the first half of 2018.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 6
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $36 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Basis, Mars Finance, Trip.io, OkCoin
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 4
Based in: Beijing, China
Website: http://www.ceyuan.com/en/index.html

#10(T) Lightspeed Venture Partners
Lightspeed Venture Partners crypto fundDescription: Lightspeed is a global venture capital firm based in Menlo Park with six additional offices including in Israel, China, and India. They primarily invest in consumer and enterprise sectors and have also made several investments in blockchain companies like Basis and Ripple. They are also made an early investment in BTC China via LIghtspeed China Partners.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 6
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $24 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Basis, Blockchain Inc., Saga Foundation, BTCC
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 3
Based in: Menlo Park, CA
Website: http://lsvp.com

#10(T) Techstars
Techstars blockchain venture capital fundDescription: Techstars is a venture capital and technology company accelerator based in Boulder, Colorado. Their entry into blockchain investing came with a seed round investment in Chroma in 2013. Since then, Techstars has made more than three dozen additional, mostly small, investments in blockchain companies.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 37
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $3 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Filament, Tok.tv, Storj Labs, Chainalysis
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 17
Based in: Boulder, CO
Website: https://www.techstars.com

#12 RRE Ventures
RRE top crypto venture fundDescription: RRE is a venture capital firm based in New York. They invest in technology, media, and financial services companies. RRE began investing in blockchain with a 2013 seed investment in Paxos followed by seed and angel rounds in Gem the following year. In total, RRE Ventures has made angel, seed, and series A and B investments in a dozen blockchain and crypto companies and startups.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 12
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $32 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Paxos, Ripple, Abra, Gem
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 2
Based in: New York, NY
Website: http://www.rre.com/

#13 Union Square Ventures
Union Square Ventures crypto fundDescription: Next on the list of top venture funds investing in blockchain is Union Square Ventures. USV is one that many may have expected to rank a bit higher on our list. Along with Sequoia, they were one of the most prominent venture funds to be involved in early investing in blockchain companies. However, they have not been as active of late as many newer entrants and blockchain-specific funds. USV is based in New York, NY.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 9
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $28 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Coinbase, CryptoKitties, Polychain Capital
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 3
Based in: New York, NY
Website: https://www.usv.com/

#14 General Catalyst
General Catalyst crypto venture fundDescription: General Catalyst is a venture capital firm based in Cambridge, MA. They typically make early stage investments in technology companies. They have made series A, B, C, and D investments in Circle, a crypto finance company. In March of 2018 General Catalyst closed a nearly $1.4 billion fund, its largest to date.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 6
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $28 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Circle, Bitwise, Bluzelle
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 2
Based in: Cambridge, MA
Website: http://generalcatalyst.com

#15 Liberty City Ventures
Liberty City Ventures crypto fundDescription: Liberty City Ventures is a seed stage venture capital firm based in New York, NY. Founded in 2012, Liberty City made it’s first blockchain investment in late 2013 with seed funding for Paxos. They have participated in multiple funding rounds for both Paxos and Libra. In May, 2018 Liberty City announced its Digital Currency Fund had raised $15 million and would invest exclusively in cryptocurrency startups.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 5
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $29 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Paxos, Libra
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: Yes (via Digital Currency Fund)
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 2
Based in: New York, NY
Website: https://www.libertycityventures.com/

#16 500 Startups
500 Startups blockchain VC fundDescription: 500 Startups is an early stage VC and incubator fund based in San Francisco, CA. They have invested in well over 1,000 companies. Among their many startup investments are several blockchain companies including Libra Credit Network, BlockCypher, and Hijro. 500 Startups is led by its CEO, Christine Tsai. In early 2018, 500 Startups announced it would team with Houbi Labs to create a blockchain track program to help blockchain entrepreneurs.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 16
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $5 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Libra Credit Network, BlockCypher, Hijro, Stably Blockchain Lab
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 4
Based in: San Francisco, CA
Website: https://500.co

#17 DHVC (Danhua Capital)
dhvc blockchain vc fundDescription: Danhua Capital (DHVC) is a venture capital firm based in Palo Alto, CA. DHVC primarily makes early stage investments in technology companies including almost two dozen investments in blockchain startups. DHVC has really picked up the pace of their blockchain investments this year. In just the first six months of 2018 they have made 15 seed and venture investments in blockchain companies like Hash World, Mainframe, and CertiK.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 21
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $20 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Libra Credit Network, Hedera Hashgraph, Origin Protocol
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 19
Based in: Palo Alto, CA
Website: http://www.danhuacap.com/

#18 Kindred Ventures
Kindred Ventures top blockchain venture capital fundDescription: Kindred Ventures is an angel/VC fund based in San Francisco and San Diego, CA.  They invest in early stage companies including at least a half dozen blockchain companies. Kindred was founded by Steve Jang in 2014.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 6
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $15 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Radar Relay, TruStory, dYdX, Rare Bits
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 5
Based in: San Diego, CA
Website: https://kindredvc.com

#19 Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital crypto venture fundDescription: Some might be surprised to see Sequoia so far down the list of the top venture capital firms investing in blockchain. For one, Sequoia is one of California’s best know venture firms. They have also been in the news regarding blockchain with a high profile lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance. Sequoia has also been involved in some high profile deals, but not as many as some of the top players on our list.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 8
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $12 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Guanguan Coin, String Labs, Binance
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No
Blockchain Investments, Last 12 Months: 5
Based in: Menlo Park, CA
Website: www.sequoiacap.com

#20(T) Future Perfect Ventures
Future Perfect Ventures vc crypto fundDescription: Future Perfect Ventures (FPV) is an early stage venture capital firm based in New York, NY. FPV’s portfolio mostly consists of blockchain and crypto companies like Abra, BitPesa, Harbor, Blockchain Inc. and others. FPV was founded by Jalak Jobanputra.

Total Blockchain Company Investments: 11
Value of Venture Investments in Blockchain: $15 million
Top Blockchain Investments: Blockstream, Blockchain Inc., Harbor, Abra
Exclusively Invests in Blockchain/Digital Assets: No, but mostly

To see the list of all top 50 firms, visit the link below.

Source: https://cryptofundresearch.com/top-50-venture-capital-firms-investing-blockchain-companies/

Blockchain Technology Plus Venture Capital Equals Boston's Startup Culture

Venture Capital and Blockchain Technology in Boston’s Startup Culture

From Americaninno.com by Kirill Bensonoff Oct. 9, 2018

When people think of Boston, several things typically come to mind: cravings for clam chowder, the iconic Fenway Park, and the exaggerated “BAston” pronunciation from strangers. Lately, the city that spawned companies as diverse as Gillette and DraftKings is becoming known for its vibrant startup culture that’s launching dozens of new companies each year.

This is not surprising.

Our city has twice been named the top startup community in the U.S. by the “Innovation that Matters” report compiled by the organization 1776 and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

This fact is not lost on entrepreneurs. According to The Boston Globe, 1,869 startups are operating in Boston, and those numbers continue to increase as our venture capital scene becomes more competitive with other startup hubs including San Francisco and New York. In terms of actual investment dollars, San Francisco leads the nation, but Bloomberg’s assessment of regional startup investment found that Boston places near the top of the list in each of the last several years. This year, Boston’s venture capital initiatives jumped 15%, surpassing New York City for second place in the national rankings.

In the past, the city’s prominent universities served as a launching pad for some of the most famous platforms in the world, but those businesses typically found their way to other cities once they became popular. For instance, Facebook, which began in 2004 in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room, and Dropbox, founded by Drew Houston while he was studying at MIT, both ultimately moved to San Francisco.

Now, the combination of available venture capital and the innovative ethos promulgated by Boston’s universities is encouraging companies to stay. Therefore, as the next wave of innovation is preparing for launch, Boston is uniquely suited to meet the new demand.

The Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Movement

Just like internet startups were on the precipice of mass adoption more than two decades ago, blockchain technology is at the forefront of the innovation curve. In addition to receiving significant investment and attention from companies like Microsoft and IBM, hundreds of startups are building new platforms to meet the demands of the decentralized economy.

In 2018, nearly 700 new blockchain startups launched through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Collectively, these companies have raised $17.5 billion this year, which is more than triple the amount from the previous two years.

Not to be left on the sidelines, several prominent venture capitalists have picked up on this movement. Andreessen Horowitz launched a $300 million venture capital focused on blockchain startups, Tim Draper has committed a similar amount to various ICOs, and Sequoia Capital prominently entered the market last year.

At this year’s Boston Blockchain Week, local venture capital firm Pillar asserted themselves as the de facto financing arm of Boston’s blockchain scene. In an event roundup, Pillar encouraged ICOs looking for funding to “Call Pillar first, obviously.”

Venture Capital Streams

In many ways, the ICO model was meant to disrupt traditional capital raising methods including venture capital initiatives.

Instead, venture capital and ICOs are operating in tandem with one another. In May, Bloomberg observed, “While ICOs were supposed to disrupt venture capital, such funding in blockchain-based companies is surging, with startups raising $434 million since December, the most ever in a three-month period.”

In general, this seems to be a boom for both industries. Venture capital firms are finding fresh relevance and entrepreneurs are afforded another opportunity to finance their platforms.

The Challenges of Change

The ICO movement isn’t without its detractions.

For starters, this novel fundraising mechanism remains in a state of regulatory limbo. Although the SEC has decided that Bitcoin and Ether, the two most popular cryptocurrencies, should not be regulated as securities, there is a broad expectation that some ICOs will eventually be classified as such.

In short, VCs are participating in a game in which some of the rules are still being written.

This ambiguity is illustrative of the broad crypto movement. It’s an industry under construction, and it can change swiftly. Venture capital firms will be tasked with keeping up with this rapid innovation and the emerging legal framework that accompanies its novelty.

Boston & The Blockchain

While blockchain sentiment can fluctuate wildly, it’s evident that the decentralized ecosystem is not going away any time soon.

Many describe the blockchain economy as the third iteration of the internet, which places tremendous scale and opportunity in the industry. Of course, like any burgeoning industry, there are likely to be an abundance of failures, and blockchain prognosticators have indicated as much.

Last October, Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, told a crowd at the ETHWaterloo Hackathon in Canada that “It is an established fact that ninety percent of startups fail. And it should also be an established fact that 90 percent of these ERC20s on CoinMarketCap are going to go to zero.”

Therefore, risk management and market maturation become critical metrics for venture capitalists.

In Boston, the prominence of blockchain technology and the emergence of a dynamic startup culture are bound to coalesce. As the first generation of blockchain platforms begin emerging out of Harvard and MIT, it’s less likely that they will flee to the other coast. Boston is offering everything we need.

Source: https://www.americaninno.com/boston/from-the-community-boston/venture-capital-and-blockchain-technology-in-bostons-startup-culture/

ICO-Funded Startups Getting a Closer Look From The SEC

SEC tightens the noose on ICO-funded startups

From DecryptMedia.com by Daniel Roberts October 10, 2018

Hundreds of startups that did token sales are finding out they’re in violation of securities law— including many that were sure they did it the right way.

During the past few months, the Securities and Exchange Commission has significantly widened its crackdown on certain initial coin offerings, putting hundreds of cryptocurrency startups at risk.

The SEC sent out a slew of initial information-seeking subpoenas at the start of 2018. Now the agency has returned to many of those companies, and subpoenaed many more—focusing on those that failed to properly ensure they sold their token exclusively to accredited investors.

The agency is exerting pressure on many of those companies to settle their cases. In response, dozens of companies have quietly agreed to refund investor money and pay a fine. But many startups that have been subpoenaed say they are left in the dark struggling to satisfy the SEC’s demands, and are uncertain of how others are handling it, according to conversations with more than 15 industry sources as part of a joint investigation by Yahoo Finance and Decrypt.

The sources, many of whom are employees of companies that were subpoenaed by the SEC or are attorneys for those companies, requested anonymity, because the SEC restricts them from discussing the matter.

ICO funding, which began in 2014, exploded in popularity last year as an alternative method to fund a cryptocurrency startup, rather than the traditional venture capital route. In an ICO, a startup sells its own digital token, typically for later use in the ecosystem the startup plans to build; buyers pay for the token in the cryptocurrencies bitcoin or ether. In the majority of cases, companies that do ICOs have not yet launched any product. Think of an ICO as buying chips for use in a casino that hasn’t been built yet.

It is hard to say precisely how many ICOs occurred during the past four years. ICO Alert says it has tracked more than 5,000 but publicly displays only 3,400 “legitimate” ones. CoinDesk, a leading bitcoin trade publication, lists only 800 in the past two years. More than $20 billion has been raised in ICOs to date, but the ICO boom peaked in January 2018. Concerns over the legality of token sales have had a chilling effect.

The core issue now for every company that did an ICO: Was its “token” a security? And if it was, did the company register its offering with the SEC, or ensure that it qualified for an exemption?

SEC sees most ICOs as securities offerings—and companies failed to comply

Many of the companies that did ICOs called their offering something else, such as a “utility token” or a “SAFT” (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, an ICO method in which investors buy a reservation for tokens yet to be launched), but the SEC does not care about those labels. It weighs each ICO on a case-by-case basis.

In July 2017, the SEC announced that it viewed the tokens offered by The DAO, an ICO that raised more than $150 million in 2016, as securities. Then, at a Senate hearing in February, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said, “I believe every ICO I’ve seen is a security.”

Capital raising through blockchain requires compliance with federal securities laws https://t.co/IjOxjoVdfK  — SEC Enforcement (@SEC_Enforcement) July 25, 2017

William Hinman, the SEC’s director of corporation finance, provided further clarity in June at Yahoo Finance’s All Markets Summit when he said ether does not appear to be a security, but suggested that most ICOs are securities offerings, and that, “calling the transaction an initial coin offering, or ‘ICO,’ or a sale of a ‘token,’ will not take it out of the purview of the U.S. securities laws.”

Any U.S. company offering a security must register its offering with the SEC, or qualify for an exemption. Amid the ICO boom, virtually none have registered a security offering. Thus, they must meet an exemption. The SEC exemptions include selling only to investors outside the U.S., or selling only to accredited investors, which are individuals with income higher than $200,000 in each of the past two years or a minimum net worth of $1 million.

Ensuring that investors are fully accredited requires, as the SEC spells out plainly, “reviewing documentation, such as W-2s, tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, credit reports and the like.” In other words, it involves a lot more than just checking a box.

Many companies that thought they did properly limit their ICO to accredited investors are now finding out that in the eyes of the SEC, they didn’t.

Robert Cohen, chief of the cyber unit in the SEC’s enforcement division, likens it to a spectrum. When the SEC calls up a company that did an ICO and asks how the company limited its ICO to certain investors, “Some companies tell us the name of the law firm that advised them, explain the know-your-customer procedures they followed, and show us an investor list that is limited to accredited investors,” he says. “At the other end of the spectrum, some point to a website statement about limiting the ICO to some investors, and possibly checkboxes, and that’s it.”

“The law was pretty clear”

Some of the people particularly surprised to be in trouble are those who did their ICO as a SAFT, a designation that was intended specifically to be more compliant with securities law.

But some onlookers have little sympathy. Cardozo Law School professor Aaron Wright, who co-authored a paper that questioned the legality of the SAFT model, says, “There could have been other ways they could have structured it, like selling a digital good to people who actually wanted to use it, instead of predominately to speculative investors. They could have talked to the SEC first. I think the law was pretty clear that if you sell something to an investor, it’s likely a security—folks just wanted to engage in token sales, so they just kind of flouted it.”

In December 2017, the SEC shut down the $15 million ICO of a startup called Munchee and forced the company to refund the buyers. Munchee had advertised that its token would go up in value; promises of financial returns are a red flag for the SEC.

In January 2018, the SEC shut down the ICO of AriseBank, which had raised $600 million of a $1 billion goal, for falsely stating it had bought an FDIC-insured bank. In April 2018, the SEC shut down the $32 million ICO of Centra, which had been promoted by boxer Floyd Mayweather and rapper DJ Khaled, for using “misleading marketing” and “paid celebrities” to make false claims. Last month, the SEC charged TokenLot, which called itself an “ICO Superstore,” with being an unregistered broker-dealer, and charged Crypto Asset Management (CAM) with false marketing and being an unregistered investment company.

Those are just some examples that the SEC announced publicly.

Behind closed doors, many more negotiations are underway. The SEC has gotten dozens of ICOs to refund buyers and pay a fine, simply by reaching out and asking questions.

We received a second subpeona from the SEC, again collecting information from us as investors in a U.S. company. The legal costs of dealing with these are not insignificant. We will not invest in any further U.S. deals until the SEC clarifies token rules. Pivot to Asia. 
— Michael Arrington (@arrington) September 28, 2018

When the SEC reaches out to companies that did an ICO, it is usually through the company’s law firm. The SEC requests a vast trove of documents related to the ICO. Yahoo Finance and Decrypt have obtained communication that the law firm Cooley, which represented many ICOs, sent to one client after an SEC subpoena. The attorney letter warns, “The SEC is likely examining whether [client] should be considered a security under the U.S. federal securities laws… For the purposes of this preservation hold, ‘document’ is defined very broadly.”

Such language is leading many companies to refund their ICOs rather than attempt a legal fight. As one source at a company that got subpoenaed says, “The last thing we want is a press release they put out with only our name on it.”

Refunding tokens

The Fan-Controlled Football League (FCFL), the first ICO to be listed on the mainstream crowdfunding platform Indiegogo (through a partnership with MicroVentures), is one example. FCFL raised $5.2 million last year. In August of this year, MicroVentures quietly returned the money to the initial buyers. 

There’s just one problem with refunding. If an ICO gathered the proper information on its buyers, and hadn’t yet launched its token, returning the money is doable. But for ICOs that have launched their token, refunding is not so simple.

“It’s not even really possible,” says Jony Levin, CEO of Chainalysis. “In a lot of cases people bought tokens in ICOs through exchange accounts at places like Kraken. So you can’t just send tokens back to the address you got them from, because that’s an exchange address. If ICOs are made to refund buyers, it will have to be similar to the Mt. Gox case: you make a public announcement and people have to prove they were a contributor.”

As a way to pacify the SEC, some ICOs are attempting to convert their utility token to a security token. Iconomi, which raised more than $10 million in an ICO, is one example. In a blog post this month, Iconomi wrote that its token holders, “will be able to exchange their ICN tokens for tokenized shares in a joint-stock company presented as eICN tokens. This new structure brings legal clarity for all stakeholders.”

Filecoin, Blockstack, Props, Origin, and TrustToken, the five ICOs that have listed on the platform CoinList, all sold only to accredited investors, and none have launched their actual token yet. A source close to Blockstack says the company sees its token as a utility, but out of caution, chose to treat it like a security and comply with all the relevant securities laws.

“Right now it feels like a massive canyon”

All of this SEC action may sound like very bad news for ICOs, but many in the industry have a more optimistic take: regulatory clarity will bring growth. In addition, more and more companies considering a token sale are now reaching out to the SEC proactively.

“I do think that businesses on the up-and-up can navigate through it, and that in just two or three years we’ll have clarity, and we’ll look back on this time as a speed bump,” says the CEO of a well-known tech company who has closely watched the ICO space. “Of course, if you’re a company that is dealing with an SEC subpoena, right now it doesn’t feel like a speed bump, right now it feels like a massive canyon.”

The lingering lack of clarity has driven a group of crypto companies, led by Ripple, to hire D.C. lobbyists to push Congress on behalf of the industry.

From the SEC’s perspective, there is no lack of clarity. The sniff tests are the same as they have been for decades. The SEC is applying the same securities laws to ICOs that it always applies.

“Everybody’s holding their breath for the SEC to create some kind of coin rule, and they’re not going to,” says a securities attorney at one high-profile Silicon Valley firm. “They’re applying the same laws, the same statutes, the same rules, to stocks and bonds and everything else.”

In other words, there’s even a lack of clarity around whether there is a lack of regulatory clarity.

Source: https://decryptmedia.com/2018/10/10/sec-tightens-the-noose-on-ico-funded-startups/

This story is a collaboration between Yahoo Finance and Decrypt, with additional reporting by Josh Quittner.

11 ECO-FRIENDLY HOMES THAT DEFINE INNOVATIVE

Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) Sale Nets $8.86 Million for Ethereum Scaling

Multicoin Leads $10 Million SAFT Sale for Ethereum Scaling Startup Skale

From Coindesk.com by Nikhilesh De Oct. 4, 2018

Blockchain startup Skale Labs raised nearly $10 million in an effort to develop a blockchain scalability infrastructure for ethereum, the company announced Thursday.

The startup says in a press statement that it raised $8.86 million in a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) sale led by Multicoin Capital, on top of $785,000 raised earlier this year.

Galaxy Digital, Aspect Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Boost.VC, Canaan Venture Partners, Floodgate Fund, Hack.VC, Neo Global Capital and Signia Venture Partners also participated in the sale.

The company intends to launch an open-source permissionless blockchain targeted toward providing ethereum-based decentralized application (dapp) developers a new base platform to build upon.

In particular, Skale intends to launch the first implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine on a Plasma chain – a move it says would help dapp developers by giving them a layer-2 platform on which to execute smart contracts.

Using Skale's network will enable dapps to conduct "millions of transactions per second at a fraction of the cost of what's possible today," the release claims.

Jack O'Holleran, co-founder and CEO of Skale Labs, said in a statement that "helping Ethereum dapp developers scale applications is the center of what we do."

He added:

"We are sharply focused on making Layer 2 easy, fast, secure and cost-effective for anyone who wants to run smart contracts on Ethereum ... We are looking forward to bringing this network to market in a fully open-source, [peer-to-peer] manner."

The startup plans to set its testnet live by the end of 2018 and activate its mainnet in the upcoming year. A foundation will also be launched to support the network, similar to the Ethereum Foundation and its work supporting the Ethereum mainnet, the firm says.

"Skale is uniquely positioned to dominate Layer 2 on Ethereum," said Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani, adding that the project is "Ethereum's best shot at fending off competition from other smart contract platforms."

Source:

Review: MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures

MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: The $ickness Industry, Big Pharma and Suppressed Cures by James Morcan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Scary stuff, enjoyed it very much. Recommended.

View all my reviews