SEC No-Action Letter Smooths Accredited Investor Status

Written by: Aaron Krowne, Esq. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has introduced practical new guidance that makes it easier to verify accredited investor status in private offerings. Through a recent no-action letter, the agency has lowered the friction involved in Rule 506(c) offerings, allowing issuers to rely on more streamlined verification methods without sacrificing […]

SEC v. Ripple Summary Judgment: “Bullish” for Crypto

On June 13th, 2023, Southern District of New York federal judge Analisa Torres issued her summary judgment order in the case of SEC v. Ripple[1] (the “Ripple SJ Order,” or “Order,” herein).  The Order surprised many observers (and pleased most of the blockchain industry) by finding against the SEC on a majority of its main […]

Token Offerings: Blockstack (Reg A+) vs. Telegram (Reg D)

(*) Some of the biggest news of the past half-year on the US crypto regulatory front has been (1) Blockstack’s successful (qualified) “Reg A+” filing with the SEC and associated offering, and (2) the SEC’s lawsuit and injunction against Telegram, blocking distribution of their “Grams” tokens, sold pursuant to earlier “SAFTs” (Simple Agreements for Future […]

“Decentralized” No More: SEC Drops Blockchain Test?

Another takeaway of mine from the SEC’s April 3rd releases was noting a striking shift in gears from the SEC.  Namely, there was a conspicuous lack of emphasis on the “degree of decentralization” of blockchain token-issuers as applied to the security-vs-utility analysis of their tokens (I didn’t mention this in my earlier post, to keep it as short […]

Doubts Over SEC’s Hinman “Decentralization” Token Test

On June 14th, 2018,  at the Yahoo! Finance All Markets Summit, the SEC’s Director of the Corporate Finance Division, William Hinman, made a “speech heard ’round the world” — best known for its bombshell conclusion that Ether coin (or “ETH”, of the Ethereum blockchain network) should not be considered a security [1].  While this sort of […]

Congress Pushes Back on SEC, Eyes Utility Token/SAFT Bill

A routine House Financial Services Committee hearing held on May 16th, 2018, turned eventful when a number of U.S. Congressional representatives sprung “initial coin offering” (ICO-related) questions on SEC officials — most of them from a more positive and supportive perspective than the SEC’s Chairman Jay Clayton has evinced in his comments directed at the […]