4 ms·
Is the ICO is an illegal confidence scam because an ICO is a genuinely novel thing to do or just because the issuers were criminals? I would argue for the latte
by giaour 4y ago
Is the ICO is an illegal confidence scam because an ICO is a genuinely novel thing to do or just because the issuers were criminals? I would argue for the latter.
Assume a non-criminal company filed the correct paperwork to issue a bond, set normal terms for when and for how much the matured bond could be redeemed, and then somehow legally allowed it to be traded on a blockchain instead of on a traditional exchange. That's just a corporate bond, right? The fact that it's on a blockchain doesn't make it special.
Tone is hard to convey online, so let me clarify that I am arguing that all ICOs are illegal, with the absolute best case being that the issuer is "just" a scofflaw selling an unregistered security and flouting all relevant regulation.
- CPLX 4y ago> Is the ICO is an illegal confidence scam because … the issuers were criminals? The causality works the other direction. > Assume a non-criminal company … Yes if you assume a normal and legal thing (a legal corporate bond) was in fact another thing (an ICO token) then it would be legal. Much in the way that if you took a Honda Civic and modified it sufficiently that it could fly it would be an aircraft. Until I see someone do that a Honda Civic is a compact car.
- giaour 4y agoI don't think we're disagreeing so much as making unrelated points. I'm arguing that if someone modified a Honda Civic so that it could fly and then said, "this is an airplane now, so I don't need to register it as a car or obey the speed limit when I drive it on the highway," then they are either full of shit or lying to themselves. If you use it as a car, you need to comply with laws for cars.