This Startup Could Sell You Crypto Tokens—With SEC Backing
in many cases, deservedly so. Sure, there were blockchain projects with sound dreams and solid business plans. But as the bitcoin bubble swelled in late 2017, ICOs became synonymous with predation: get-rich-quick schemes that involved taking money from anyone who was willing, in return for worthless crypto tokens.
Since then, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been trying to clean up the mess. The rules are vague, but this much has become clear: Most ICOs are securities offerings, and require all the protections and disclosures of selling stocks. That basically takes them off the table for ordinary investors. Blockchain startups now typically fund themselves with sales of shares (or tokens) to so-called accredited investors, institutions, and wealthy individuals.
But now one blockchain startup thinks it’s found a way to get you and me involved again in token sales—with the SEC’s blessing.
“I hate the term ICO,” says Muneeb Ali, cofounder and CEO of Blockstack, which is building a platform for decentralized apps. Last week, the company filed an application with the SEC to sell its tokens, called Stacks, under an exemption called Regulation A+. The pathway came into being as part of the JOBS Act passed by Congress in 2012, and allows businesses to raise $50 million each year from ordinary investors. Blockstack believes that, if approved by the SEC, it would be the first to use the exemption to sell a crypto token.
Tucked in the filing was a disclosure about another Blockstack investor: Harvard Management Company, which oversees the university’s endowment. It’s listed alongside two other investors that together hold a stake valued at about $11 million, purchased in an earlier token sale (Harvard’s exact share wasn’t disclosed). Though a few big institutions, including Yale and two Virginia pension plans, have invested in crypto-focused funds, Harvard’s involvement is unusual in that it appears to have taken a direct interest in the tokens of a blockchain network. Harvard Management Company declined to
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