Bear in mind, exchange of any type = publicly traded, and LRM don't want that.
How public is public though? This forum is public and shares/bonds/contracts are trading here already.
Edit: LR has also indicated someone was working on an exchange at some point, so he's not totally against the idea.
From what I've pieced together, the contracts now look "legal" (although very difficult to valuate) and are clean. He's legally allowed to sell them to anyone. Once you own them, they are your property and you can sell them to someone else (within some limits so you don't draw attention to yourself as selling unregistered securities). However, running something that is an exchange (centralized place where people can trade contracts) requires more regulations. He doesn't want to get involved with that. Whether it's public or not doesn't matter, any centralized market is a regulatory liability for the operator. That's why it appears his lawyer is ok with someone else setting it up an exchange in a permissive jurisdiction. There is some regulatory liability placed on participants in the market, especially if you are a large holder of shares (selling unregistered securities), but that is kind of a stretch and might not be worth anyone from the SEC's time to look into.
Two things LRM contracts need, in order to have any value in the future, are a working exchange and enough information for people to value how much shares are really worth. Well, in theory, LRM only needs to have a way of accurately assigning value to shares (since that will allow direct, one-time, sales), the exchange is icing and will increase the value of the direct, one-time sales.
" Once you own them, they are your property and you can sell them to someone else (within some limits so you don't draw attention to yourself as selling unregistered securities)."
Are Lab_Rat's contracts "registered" with anyone?
I don't think so, so what difference would it make what you do with your own property?
Because it becomes really close to being a security:
The term ‘‘security’’ means any note, stock, treasury
stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture,
evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation
in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate,
preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share,
investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of de-
posit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or
other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege
on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of secu-
rities (including any interest therein or based on the value
thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered
into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign cur-
rency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly
known as a ‘‘security’’, or any certificate of interest or partici-
pation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guar-
antee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any
of the foregoing.
- you start to push a gray area between a hardware contract and a security (as a profit sharing agreement). You are not free to sell securities however you'd like, even though they are your property.
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