SEC: US Securities Laws 'May Apply' to Token Sales
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has recently issued a statement in which it is said that the offering and sale of digital tokens "are subject to the requirements of the federal securities law." The agency, in its statement, revealed that it had been investigating the issuance of tokens connected to The DAO, the Ethereum-based funding vehicle that collapsed dramatically last summer following an exploit of a flaw in its code.
According to the SEC, those "DAO tokens" constitute securities, though the agency said that it was not going to pursue any charges in connection with the project, but is releasing its finding "to caution the industry and market participants." The agency said:
"...the Commission deems it appropriate and in the public interest to issue this Report in order to stress that the U.S. federal securities law may apply to various activities, including distributed ledger technology, depending on the particular facts and circumstances, without regard to the form of the organization or technology used to effectuate a particular offer or sale."
As a result, many altcoins related to the ICO scenario have dropped in value, a scenario that has also been made possible due to Bitcoin's upcoming UAHF and the concerns that it is causing investors.
Read more here and read the full SEC report here
Russian Airline S7 Now Uses the Ethereum Blockchain for Flight Tickets
The Russian airline PJSC Siberia Airlines, known as S7, has announced that it is to use the Ethereum blockchain to sell flight tickets, a project that is backed by the country’s largest private commercial bank, Alfa-Bank. According to the bank, one of the key advantages of employing the technology was the process of faster payments.
The announcement of this latest project between S7 and Alfa-Bank comes after Russia’s largest airline, Aeroflot, revealed that it had published a proposal for the introduction of digital currencies and technologies related to it into its operations.
Read more here
World’s Largest Bitcoin Tumbling Service Announces Sudden Shutdown
Bitmixer.io, the largest BTC mixing service online has decided to shut down operations, citing the future of Bitcoin as a catalyst. While no links have been made official, users question possible pressure and dark market shops as a possible cause. Bitmixer.io made an announcement on the popular Bitcointalk forums stating:
“When we started this service I was convinced that any Bitcoin user has a natural right to privacy. I was totally wrong. Now I grasped that Bitcoin is transparent non-anonymous system by design. Blockchain is a great open book. I believe that Bitcoin will have a great future without dark market transactions.”
Read more here
