【听风说币】STO能通过SEC的不完备指引吗？（上）

原文链接：Security Token Offerings: A Way Past the SEC’s Incomplete Crypto Guidance?

作者：Chi-Ru Jou

译者：听风

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2018 has been a tumultuous year on the regulatory front for the blockchain industry.

The year began with news that the SEC had issued dozens of subpoenas for blockchain startups that had issued unregistered token offerings, spreading alarm throughout the crypto world. These investigations have recently resulted in penalties, mandatory securities offering registrations and in some cases reimbursement to investors, for a few blockchain companies.

在监管方面，2018年是区块链行业动荡不安的一年。

2018年一开始就传过来消息，美国证券交易委员会（SEC）已经给数十份区块链初创公司印发了传票，因为这些公司发行未注册的通证类产品，这给整个加密世界敲响了警钟。这些调查最近导致一些区块链公司受到处罚，证券发行被强制性注册，在某些情况下还需要向投资者赎回（已发行的通证产品）。

SEC Director William Hinman issued informal guidelines that bitcoin and ether were not securities because those networks had become “sufficiently decentralized.” Now, as the year winds to a close, we hear that the SEC will issue “plain English” guidance on the security token analysis as soon as early 2019.

In this uncertain regulatory environment, most blockchain startups contemplating token offerings are steering away from the public crypto markets and venturing into the brave new world of security token offerings. The buzz on the street is that “STOs” may be the next big wave for blockchain fundraising.

美国证券交易委员会主任威廉·欣曼发布了非正式指导方针，即比特币和以太坊不是证券，因为那些网络已经太过去中心化。现在，这一年即将结束，我们听闻美国证券交易委员会将在2019年初尽快就安全通证概要发布一份通俗的英语指南。

在这种不确定的监管环境下，大多数考虑发行通证的区块链初创公司正在转向公共加密市场，并冒险进入崭新的世界——通证证券化发行（STO）。街头的喧嚣的“STO”之声可能是区块链募资的下一波浪潮。

However, many blockchain startups initially planned their business model around what they perceived to be a utility token – a software license to use the token on a platform, often as the currency to pay for services or earn rewards in a digital marketplace powered by a blockchain.

As these start-ups shift their plans from doing IC0s toward the regulatory landscape of STOs instead, the biggest question is whether the STO is going to be the panacea everyone is looking for: what unresolved legal issues for STOs do we confront in 2019? What cutting edge issues are currently boggling the minds of securities attorneys as they begin to execute these STOs?

然而，许多区块链初创公司最开始规划他们的业务模式是围绕他们实现效用型通证。即在平台上使用通证化的软件许可证，通常可以作为货币购买服务或者在区块链驱动的数字市场中获得报偿。

由于这些初创企业将计划从IC0转向监管环境下的STO，其中最大的问题是STO是否会成为每个人都在寻找的灵丹妙药：我们在2019年面临的STO未解决的法律问题是什么？当证券律师开始执行STO时，目前哪些前沿问题在困扰着他们？

Using Security Tokens on a Blockchain

Most STOs that are currently being initiated are private placement securities offerings to accredited investors.

However, the private placement poses a number of unresolved problems for blockchain companies wishing to use the tokens on their platforms. These issues will have to be analyzed carefully under the facts and circumstances of each blockchain platform, but some general considerations include:

• Accreditation: Will the accredited status of investors have to be checked every time that the platform issues tokens, even where the tokens are being issued as rewards earned on the platform?

• One-Year Lockup: Will initial token users have to hold the tokens for a year each time they earn tokens on the platform before using them for functional purposes on the platform such as paying for services?

• State Issuer Dealer Registration: Will blockchain companies have to register as issuer dealers with several states that have such requirements before they can transact in their own securities on their platform? The American Bar Association published a useful article on state issuer dealer registration laws. Although these issuer dealer laws usually affect primarily public offerings of securities rather than private placements, a different novel question is presented by blockchain platforms that deal in their own securities on an ongoing basis after initial issuance.

• Registration as an Alternative Trading System (“ATS”): If the blockchain platform is acting as a marketplace to bring together sellers and purchasers of security tokens, at what point does it need to register as an ATS? The SEC has yet to issue clear guidance regarding the circumstances under which a blockchain platform dealing in security tokens would be regarded as a securities “exchange,” particularly in difficult cases where the platform does not call itself an exchange of any kind.

在区块链上使用证券化通证

目前大多数正在发起的STO都是向合格投资者提供的私募证券。

然而，私人配售为希望在其平台上使用通证的区块链公司带来了许多需要解决的问题。每个区块链平台都必须根据事实和情况仔细分析这些问题。常见的考虑因素包括：

• 合格的验证：每次平台发行代币时，是否必须检查投资者的合格状态，即使代币是作为平台上获得的奖励发行的？

• 一年锁定：私募用户每次在平台上获得通证后，是否是否必须持有一年时间，然后才能在平台上使用它们作为支付服务的功能？

• 国家发行人经销商注册：区块链公司是否必须在符合此类要求的几个州注册为发行人交易商才能在其平台上交易自己的证券？美国律师协会在国家发行人交易商登记法律上发表了一篇有用的文章。虽然这些发行人的交易商法律通常主要影响证券的公开发行而不是私募，但是区块链平台提出了一个不同的新问题，即在首次发行后如何持续处理自己的证券。

• 注册为另类交易系统（“ATS”）：如果区块链平台充当市场，将卖方和通证化代币的购买者聚集在一起，那么它在什么时候需要注册为ATS（详见百度百科）？SEC尚未就处理证券化代币的区块链平台被视为证券“交易所”的情况发布明确的指引，特别是目前的困境在于，平台方宣称自己并非是任何形式的交易所。

（未完待续……）

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