Our portfolio company Blockstack is the first company to have received qualification from the SEC to sell a crypto token in an offering to the general public. The Reg A Stacks token sale is now live and you can learn more about how the token works and how to participate in the offering at stackstoken.com.
Why is this an important development? Because so far in the US new tokens have been offered primarily to accredited investors under what is called Reg D, shutting smaller investors out. Some projects have even chosen not to sell to US investors at all. Blockstack decided that it wanted US community members to be able to buy tokens (independent of their wealth and income) and therefore pursued the Reg A path which makes this possible. That path was unproven though and represented a big risk that qualification might never be obtained. Nonetheless the team persisted and now the general public has access to the offering.
Along with Reg A comes a higher standard of disclosure than Reg D. For example, Blockstack has published audited financials, which informs backers of exactly how much money has been spent and how much money is in the bank. Blockstack discloses the holdings of its executives and their trading in the Stacks tokens will be subject to regulation also. While the project is unproven and has many risks (see the extensive risks section of the offering circular), this level of disclosure and transparency reduces the likelihood of an outright scam, which is exactly what many of the unregulated token offerings turned out to be.
Congratulations to the team at Blockstack on this major milestone, which is a small step for the project but a giant leap for the crypto industry.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMERS
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has qualified the offering statement that Blockstack has filed with the SEC. The information in that offering statement is more complete than the information set forth in this post, and could differ in important ways. You must read the documents filed with the SEC before investing. The offering is being made only by means of its offering statement. This post shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.
An indication of interest involves no obligation or commitment of any kind. Any person interested in investing in any offering of Stacks Tokens should review the company’s disclosures and the publicly filed offering statement and the final offering circular that is part of that offering statement at stackstoken.com/circular. Blockstack is not registered, licensed or supervised as a broker dealer or investment adviser by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) or any other financial regulatory authority or licensed to provide any financial advice or services.