Blockstack On July 10, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) qualified Blockstack PBC’s (“Blockstack’s”) offering circular, enabling Blockstack to commence sales and distribution of up to $40 million worth of its Stacks Tokens (“Stacks”) under Regulation A. This marks the first time in history that the SEC has qualified a Regulation A offering of blockchain-native digital assets. We previously covered the initial public filing of Blockstack’s April 11, 2019 preliminary offering circular (which…

On June 26, the price of bitcoin surged to a 12-month high of nearly $13,900 (up about 35% on the month) before losing more than $1,700 in a span of 15 minutes, then rebounding slightly and closing the day at around $12,800. All the while, retail and institutional investors seeking to gain exposure to this volatile asset class through an exchange traded product continued their wait. The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) evaluation of the…

We are happy to report that our recent in-depth Practice Note on Blockchain as applied to Supply Chain Management was selected to appear as the cover story for the June/July issue of Practical Law – The Journal. Read the full text here. …

On June 4, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) filed a complaint in the Southern District of New York against Kik Interactive Inc. (“Kik”) alleging violations of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”). The complaint arises from Kik’s offer and sale of $100 million worth of blockchain-based digital assets known as “Kin Tokens” from May to September 2017. In that time period, Kik sold Kin Tokens both…

The plot has thickened in the longest-running “whodunit” in the blockchain space: Who is Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin and author of the white paper that started it all, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System? Published in 2008, Nakamoto’s paper proposed a form of electronic cash that would operate purely peer-to-peer, without the need for a trusted intermediary (such as a centralized financial institution) and in a verifiable manner that protects against…

Proskauer partners Daniel Ganitsky and Jeff Neuburger address five factors for private equity firms to consider when evaluating the critical business decision of implementing blockchain-based technology solutions for their portfolio companies: Daniel Ganitsky: Technology is causing private equity firms to deal with a whole new set of questions for their portfolio companies. The use of blockchain technology is one of those questions. Given operational factors and the fact that private equity firms often provide additional access to capital, it…

On April 11, Blockstack Token LLC (“Blockstack”) filed a preliminary offering circular with the SEC for a $50 million token offering under Regulation A of the Securities Act. The offering circular is now under review with the SEC and must be qualified (i.e., cleared) by the SEC before sales of Blockstack’s tokens (“Stacks Tokens”) can be effectuated under the program. Blockstack’s offering circular is notable because it treats the Stacks Tokens as securities today but…