Fintech Week SF [Hot Topic] Blockchain & ICOs

Hi Future Rebels,

The ICO 'genesis' Cryptocurrencies and ICOs were motivated by, and attractive to, the idea of avoiding regulation. (This was contributed to by the perception that 'coins' might not be seen as 'ownership.)

The reality
BUT if it acts like a 'security'' it probably is one. From Crowdfund Insider in March
"Why Your Initial Coin Offering Is Probably Regulated By Securities Law"
https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2017/03/96598-initial-coin-offering-probably-regulated-securities-law/

In the article Amy Wan, a Partner at Trowbridge Sidoti LLP, outlines the applicability of the definition of an “investment contract” under the Howey Test - with led to the US Securities Act of 1933. You'll find this also is cited in the Wikipedia entry on ICOs Recently, in September of 2017 China and South Korea banned, ICOs, Switzerland announced a major investigation of the legality of ICOs and Australia announced that they would be evaluated on a case by case basis. The US Which brings us to the state in the US.
In July 2017 the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it could have the authority to apply federal securities law to ICOs.
"...if the offer and sale of tokens or coins in an ICO constitutes a securities offering, then the federal securities laws apply. This means the ICO (the offer and sale of the tokens) must be registered with the SEC or meet an exemption from registration. Offerings that are performed under an exemption from registration typically require investors to meet certain income or net worth thresholds." https://www.finra.org/investors/alerts/initial-coin-offerings-know-before-you-invest
And while a Private Placement ICO may not have to register with the SEC, but it could still have to comply with the FINRA provisions of those exemptions

Where are we now
The ICO industry is responding proactively….
e.g.,
The Coinbase document - A Securities Law Framework for Blockchain Tokens “Bottom line - it may, or may not, be a security - if you are going to do it, build it, buy it.... you should get informed “
https://www.coinbase.com/legal/securities-law-framework.pdf

And a form of industry self regulation...The SAFTE: A Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (or Equity),
https://blog.colony.io/a-simple-agreement-for-future-tokens-or-equity-b8ef08608347
which is based on the 'Discount: No Cap SAFE' provision of YCombinator’s SAFE (https://www.ycombinator.com/documents/):Simple Agreement for Future Equity.

In summary- Cryptocurrencies and ICOs were motivated in part by, and attractive to, the idea of avoiding regulation, with the thoughtthat 'coins' might not be seen as 'ownership. BUT today an Initial Coin Offering may by regulated by securities law. If it acts like a 'security', it may be legally viewed as one.

----->None of the above constitutes legal advice<------

Agenda Kickoff 630pm - Networking, Demos & Nibbles

7pm - Lightning pitches from Audience - 1 minute

715pm - Speakers TBC

Neeraj Murarka - Bluzelle is a decentralized service that provides on-demand, scalable databases. It is for software developers who are dissatisfied with the costs, limited scalability, and complexity of existing database systems. Bluzelle is low-cost, quick to deploy, provides utmost performance, and has a solid scalability path. Bluzelle provides enterprise-grade database services at a price for all DApp developers.
Bluzelle is named 1 of the 30 "Tech Pioneers" by World Economic Forum this year as well as the "Rising Star" in the FinTech100 by KPMG and H2 Ventures.
We have been invited to speak in various conferences globally (e.g. World Blockchain Forum), and meetups in London, Stockholm, Silicon Valley, Tokyo and Singapore etc.

Jay Zhou - Loopring.org
Loopring is a decentralized automation exchange and we have concluded our token sale in August with 120,000ETH collected. They are based in Shanghai and opening a hub in Australian soon.

Arnaud Dazin Bio: He is a seasoned tech leader in the Virtual and Augmented Reality space after a successful career in the video games industry where he contributed to mobile giant Storm8’s success of achieving over a billion downloads and 50 million monthly actives as an early employee. As CEO of Mapping Aggregation Platform Ltd., Arnaud is intent on using decentralized approaches to creating a crowdsourced 3D map of the world that is more accurate and up to date than any existing mapping technology.

Amy Wan is Co-Founder & CEO of Sagecoin, a project of Bootstrap Legal. Amy has authored various legal publications in capital markets, including the upcoming legal practice guide on ICO securities offerings on Bloomberg Law (to be released early 2018) and chapters of the Lexis-Nexis Practice Advisor on Private Equity. Previously, she was a Partner at Crowdfunding Lawyers and General Counsel at Patch of Land, a real estate crowdfunding platform. She is a frequent speaker; is founder and co-organizer of Legal Hackers LA, which programs around the intersection of law and technology; was named one of the one of ten women to watch in legal technology by the American Bar Association Journal in 2014; and was nominated as a Finalist for the Corporate Counsel of the Year Award 2015 by LA Business Journal.
Amy has also worked in international regulatory and trade policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and was a Presidential Management Fellow at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Department of Transportation. She holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a JD from the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, and a BA in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California.

Audrey Chaing - Blockchaing Audrey is a cryptocurrency trader and blockchain analyst, and runs the news site blockchaing.org (http://blockchaing.org/). She has been trading Bitcoin since 2013 and is a member of the Oakland Blockchain Developers. Previously, she co-founded 2 companies in food tech and genetics, through which she participated in Start-Up Chile and Singularity University Global Solutions Program. She has over a decade of experience on Wall Street as an investor, trader, and research analyst at companies like Credit Suisse, Wells Fargo, and BlackRock. Audrey has a degree in Computer Science from MIT with a concentration in Artificial Intelligence, and earned her MBA at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is a frequent blockchain speaker at events like Women in Blockchain, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Meetup, SVIAccelerator InsurTech Blockchain Bootcamp, and Infinity Fireside Chats. https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreychaing/

Panel - Hosted by Charles Towle Co-Managing Partner at US Capital Investment Management, A structured funding and corporate finance specialist, Mr. Towle has over 10 years of business development, asset management, corporate finance, capital markets, and general business management experience. Prior to joining US Capital Partners, Mr. Towle gained extensive entrepreneurial
and investment experience, serving as a limited partner, financial officer, or board member of various investment and endowment funds and small and medium-sized businesses, both in the United States and abroad.

Jonathan Van Loo - tax issues for ICOs and cryptocurrency
Jon Van Loo is a tax attorney specializing in cryptocurrency, digital assets and other transactions. With 10 years of experience in law firms in London and New York as well as a tax boutique in San Francisco, Jon recently opened his own boutique tax firm in Menlo Park. Jon has experience advising on the tax aspects of a wide variety of transactions including: private equity M&A, hedge fund and other investment fund formation, international transactions and litigation finance.

Speakers + audience members Networking

900 - close & off to a nearby bar.

We are kindly being sponsored by http://www.WeWork.com please ask to find out more. See you all then.

Please email us with inquiries for speaking & panel.

Zee.west@gmail.com number to find out more or need help with directions +447588812528