Following BitClave’s successful presale launch on July 25, 2017, two significant U.S. regulatory actions involving cryptocurrency were announced. On Tuesday, July 25, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a report finding that the 2016 DAO ICO was a sale of securities. On July 26, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCen”) fined a Greek-based virtual currency exchange for transactions related to ransomware and computer hacking. These actions signify increased U.S. regulatory scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry.
The SEC report described the assemblage of the proceeds of the DAO ICO into a fund for investments by a DAO entity for the benefit of the token holders. Arguably, this made the DAO ICO akin to a private equity fund or similar investment opportunity, with DAO token purchasers similar to limited partners. That structure is totally unlike the intended BitClave ICO.
Unlike under the DAO ICO, the purpose of CAT tokens is to provide access to the BitClave Active Search Ecosystem (“BASE”), which brings together providers of goods and services with consumers seeking those goods and services. BASE is not an investment fund, and CATs are not an investment vehicle. Also, BitClave was careful to exclude U.S. citizens from its pre-sale ensuring that the sale would not violate the U.S. Securities laws.
Alex Bessonov, CEO and founder of BitClave, is confident in stating that the sale of BitClave’s Consumer Activity tokens (CATs) is not an offering of securities contrary to U.S. law.
