The First Cryptocurrency-Backed Schedule 13D: Why It Matters and What It Means

In May, the Pithia, RChain Cooperative, and DigitalTown teams made history. Pithia General Counsel, Tamara Rogers, filed the very first Schedule 13D listing cryptocurrency as the method of payment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). If you’re not familiar, a Schedule 13D is a filing that must be submitted to the SEC by anyone who acquires beneficial ownership of more than 5% of any class of publicly traded securities in a public company.

We filed this due to our recent investment in DigitalTown (OTC: DGTW), who is the very first public company to fully adopt blockchain and commit to RChain. They are also the first public company to accept a cryptocurrency in exchange for stock, let alone an altcoin instead of Bitcoin or Ethereum. With the inherent volatility of cryptocurrencies, this investment is a strong indicator of the confidence DigitalTown has in RChain, the future success of the network, and the future success of digital currencies in general.

Why does this matter? We’ve opened the door for future crypto-based investments in public companies. This deal is truly the first of its kind — buying stocks with cryptocurrency is the first major change in this space in decades, if not centuries. We also demonstrated the importance of following all SEC guidelines. They’re not out to “get” the blockchain industry as some may have you believe. They’re here to create a level playing field for all parties and protect both investors and enterprises.

What does this mean for the future? The true value of the blockchain era will not come until we increase adoption and use cases of cryptocurrencies. DigitalTown solutions are available to more than 22,000 municipalities worldwide and the free SmartWallet already supports cryptocurrencies. With this investment, we’re leading the industry and creating a framework for millions of consumers, businesses, and governments to easily use cryptocurrency in place of fiat currency.

As a part of the investment, Pithia CEO Lawrence Lerner and two others joined the DigitalTown Board of Directors. DigitalTown also dedicated two developers to our portfolio company, lifeID, to accelerate the development of their identity management platform.

We’re excited to be playing such a pivotal role in the direction of DigitalTown. We share a common goal of creating abundance and using technology for good. DigitalTown is creating a global movement by enabling the use of blockchain in local governments and cities.

This marks our third investment in recent months as we continue to advance the blockchain 3.0 ecosystem. We will be announcing additional investments to grow the RChain ecosystem in the very near future, so keep an eye out — the future of RChain is bright!

If you’re working on a project that can bring value to RChain, please send all referrals to pitches@pithia.com. Or, if you’re interested in investing as a Limited Partner, please email investors@pithia.com.

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