In April 2017, England’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Discussion Paper (“DP”) on DLT which sought views on the regulatory implications of DLT developments in financial markets and considered the potential risks and benefits of DLT applications. The FCA received 47 responses to the DP from a range of market participants and on 15 December 2017 the FCA published its Feedback Statement. No need to change rules In its Feedback Statement, the FCA points…
One of the big questions surrounding ICOs is whether the “coin” (or token) offered in the ICO is considered a security and, therefore, subject to securities laws, including registration. One of the U.S. SEC’s first official statements on the matter, issued in response to the DAO debacle, was probably most famous for its lack of definitive statements. It said that:
[F]ederal securities law may apply to various activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to effectuate a particular offer or sale