Tagged: howey test

April 28, 2021 @ 11:00 am By Andrew L. Lee and Daniel Bernard  |  

The sudden prevalence of Non-Fungible Tokens has raised important legal considerations for issuers and purchasers alike. While intellectual property rights remain essential, securities laws should not be overlooked. Non-Fungible Tokens, or “NFTs”, are digital assets with unique identifying characteristics that distinguish one from another.  Unlike… Read More

February 6, 2020 @ 1:59 pm By JD Alois  |  

Today, in a speech delivered at an event in Chicago, SEC Commissioner Peirce presented a new proposal in the treatment of digital assets that may not be treated as securities perhaps representing a dramatic shift in the US token offering marketplace. In the US, pretty… Read More

November 21, 2018 @ 5:56 am By Onki Kwan  |  

Last Friday, the SEC settled charges against two companies, CarrierEQ Inc. dba Airfox (“Airfox”) and Paragon Coin Inc. (“Paragon”), which raised money with initial coin offerings (“ICOs”).  The SEC found that both companies violated the registration provisions of the U.S. securities laws because neither company… Read More

October 26, 2017 @ 11:10 pm By JD Alois  |  

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) pumped their regulatory brakes on Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) earlier this year. Pointing to the DAO debacle, the Feds said if a tokenized offering is a security it will be regulated, end of story. This  statement was a long… Read More

July 30, 2017 @ 2:17 pm By JD Alois  |  

In the aftermath of the SEC statement on Initial Coin Offerings and their intent to crack down on issuers in breach of securities law we reached out to Morrison Foerster for commentary on the question as to when an ICO is in fact a security…. Read More

July 28, 2017 @ 2:14 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission published a report this week that rattled the hot Initial Coin Offering (ICO) sector is still being ingested by both platforms and companies looking to offer bespoke tokens. But as the SEC fired shots across the bow of the ICO… Read More