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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (135415)	9/4/2017 10:04:43 AM
From: Pogeu Mahone	Respond to of 219492

Paris Hilton backs ICO of Lydian: Celebrities are endorsing cryptocurrencies Don’t be fooled, the authorities are coming after ICOs 2 HOURS AGO By: Izabella Kaminska Part of the ICOMEDY SERIES If you’ve been watching the excellent three-part Netflix series ‘Narcos’ on Colombian drug lords in the 80s and 90s, you’ll have learnt by now that when faced with cross-border criminal enterprises of state-undermining proportions, authorities — especially American authorities — have a habit of waiting, watching, collecting evidence and then setting major precedents (usually with the help of ingeniously constructed honey pots). We suspect the free-for-all in ICO issuance will be dealt with no differently, at least by jurisdictions that are serious about enforcing securities laws properly, as opposed to those (we shan’t mention any specific names) who see this as a novel opportunity to reassert their dominance and comparative advantage in the bearer asset, banking secrecy and offshore banking circumnavigation industry. All we will say is that terms such as “cryptovalley” should be perceived as a clue as to how jurisdictions stand on this front, as too should their state-level treatment of crypto “pioneers” such as Vitalik Buterin. A lot can also be deduced from the obsessive degree that some jurisdictions use the excuse of having to be “financial innovation” friendly to justify inaction. Nevertheless, for those still wondering where the hell the authorities are on this, there is (finally) some reason to suspect the serious orgs in this space are on their way to take care of things. Case in point this interview with Nick Morgan, a former attorney at the SEC now a partner with Paul Hastings LLC, with Epicenter — a crypto-themed cheerleadery podcast show — in which they discuss the SEC’s recent report on the DAO and what it means for the ICO boom. The show amusingly starts off with a question to Morgan asking him to explain what the SEC is, because apparently a lot of their listeners won’t be aware of the organisation, let alone what its mandates are The key takeaways relate to whether these things are securities or not and whether the SEC has jurisdiction over the issuances. As Morgan notes: The case that the SEC will bring next against someone will involve the other aspect of the federal securities laws, the anti-fraud provisions, and I think the discussion about whether a security exists and whether registration was required will be included in that type of a case, but I don’t think the next case will be argued solely on the basis of whether it’s a security and it should have been registered, there will be anti-fraud component to it. On the DAO rulings, Morgan says the SEC had a high-profile case to assert that they do have a jurisdiction over these issues — especially in the case of issues asserting expectations of profit. That seems a fairly clearcut point, so it’s entirely befuddling as to why the ruling itself hasn’t yet been taken more seriously by the market. Or why nobody told Paris Hilton about it. What’s interesting about the interview is the phenomenal — albeit potentially manufactured for the benefit of the audience/listeners — scale of naivety demonstrated by the hosts with respect to general knowledge about financial systems and financial laws. The notion that the tech sector has literally crashed into the finance industry without paying any due attention to history, pre-existing legal frameworks or incumbent experience is well and truly eptiomised by this duo. It really does seem to be the case that in their haste to disrupt and takedown the existing system, the entire crypto industry has neglected to do any basic research about what had come before it and, worse than that, assumed their system is new and better, when it’s mostly a repeat of the bad and intrinsically corrupt practices that have long been proven not to work by way of centuries of trial and error. The arrogance in that department is breathtaking. The current trend of getting celebs to sponsor these crazy things, meanwhile, isn’t new either. Remember Flooz? Which brings us to the only other jurisdiction that seems semi-serious (at least on the surface) about nipping the state defiant activity in the bud: China. As Bloomberg reports on Monday: China’s central bank said initial coin offerings are illegal and asked all related fundraising activity to be halted immediately, issuing the strongest regulatory challenge so far to the burgeoning market for digital token sales. The People’s Bank of China said on its website Monday that it had completed investigations into ICOs, and will strictly punish offerings in the future while penalizing legal violations in ones already completed. The regulator said that those who have already raised money must provide refunds, though it didn’t specify how the money would be paid back to investors. Alas, with most participants brainwashed into believing a la Pablo Escobar that they’ve invented a system that allows them to operate well above the law without fear of legal reprisal (providing, you know, enough of the right people and the public at large are paid off episodically with enough windfall gains to create the illusion the system they’ve created doesn’t operate on a net social deficit), it may just be that even such explicit statements by authorities will be ignored. All we know is it’s all gone shoe-shine boy crazy at this point. In that context watching the glacial response of regulators thus far has been akin to watching 16 episodes of a catatonic and inactive FBI Agent Dale Cooper in the new series of Twin Peaks. Spoiler alert: Cooper finally woke up last week and is expected to take on the dark forces threatening Twin Peaks in tonight’s season finale. We’re hoping the SEC and all the other relevant authorities are about to wake up on the issue of ICOs too. And while they’re at it, they should also do something about serial-pyramid builder Mavrodi, who is back again with, no-surprise-to-anyone, an ICO-structured “ MMM coin“. Related links: A currency designed for digital nomads – FT What is crypto’s agenda really? – FT Alphaville