Topic: Should ICOs be regulated as IPOs? - page 2. (Read 1152 times)

I half disagree with you

Regulation does not have to be costly at all. I've helped companies get regulation and it cost them less than what most ICOs invest in marketing. So if done well it does not have to be a death sentence to the underdogs. Though the "if done well" part is the one I'm worried about
That's why it's something that we're addressing in our company. Because building it up correctly is SO important.

well, it's posternat that said such thing, I know from the start that all these cryptocurrencies' nature are decentralized and it's permanent.
Just like what you said, none of the regulations can make cryptocurrency which designed from the start to be decentralized changing.

The KYC asked is the minimal ass coverage required and no more, just like the legal compliance advice that they get. A bit of regulation would most definitely help. I say this from my experience in the financial industry.

As you just wrote - regulation does not make it centralized. I said that because of from your previous comment it seemed you thought regulation would make it centralized.

What I am talking about is that, assuming money is a zero-sum-game (which we, as investors, should do), in order for 100x opportunities to be there (see stratis, ethereum, monero..), there need to be several 0x scams. If the environment becomes more regulated, you definitely won't have as many 0x scams anymore that's for sure, but you can also forget about those other gems. That's how I see it - but you make a good point about the lack of an ecosystem being also what makes the price work for cryptos most often than not on a speculative model. Wouldn't say this always apply however; check coins with actual use such as monero and all those coming dexs which will use the token for their functioning (kyber eidoo etc etc etc).
My point is: if you create regulations, societies have to adhere to those in order to function, this create a steeper initial investment in order for a new token to exist and thus 'betting on the underdogs' becomes less interesting.

Actually, that's not the reason for the fluctuations in price. The reason behind the massive fluctuations in price is because there is no ecosystem behind it and the price is based purely on a speculative model. Nothing else. Whereas, fiat currencies, stocks, commodities have financial ecosystems behind it - be it import/ export (for currencies), a company's products/ services (for stocks) and supply/ demand and use in industry (for commodities). All of these have nothing to do with regulation. Regulation would change a few things, but definitely not that.

Regarding the legality of the funds, KYC simply solved this, and there are also many projects that take an advice from a legal advisor to comply with the government rules. By that, I assume, there'll be no more problem regarding the legality of the funds and at the same time, could prevent money laundering.
However from my opinion, the regulation doesn't make the ICO's asset centralized, it's just regulating in such region.

The main issue isn't being scammed (regulation doesn't do as much as it claims to prevent that), the problem is mostly about the legality of the funds.
There is still a way to keep things mostly decentralized and still have regulation.

No way. That ruins the crypto world and its decentralized nature. Yes, some ICO's scam and some steal from the investors, but that is something we have to learn to live with. The benefits of decentralization way overpower the issues. This is the line we must draw in the sand and never cross. If people fear being scammed, then simply avoid the ICO markets. It is better in the long run to keep to our values and not falter.

ICOs have become quite popular to bypass rigourous processes put in place by institutions for startups to raise money and thus finance their activity/project.

However, with no consensus on their legal status and the regulation that should apply, many countries and their institutions are advising people to be cautious due to the high volatility and level of risks linked with cryptocurrencies. Shall ICOs be regulated as IPOs and obey existing securities regulations? In order one to make his own opinion about it, here are some of the pros and cons of such a regulation:

-Disadvantages: if money raising fraudulent, no jurisdiction to protect the investors, no equitable ownership, no rights equivalent to being a shareholder, companies have not produced yet any real or tangible results, anonymised transactions

-Advantages: in an ICO, the company may not be subject to direct tax, very little regulatory oversight, firms can raise funds through individuals trading fiat or other virtual currencies, if the money raised does not meet the required amount, the campaign will be written off as a failure and money returned to backers

Companies have raised $180m in ICOs so far in 2017. The question remains if they will still remain so popular whether the regulations will be tightened and whether tokens would be more considered as stocks/shares. Past ICOs should actually be used as a model or a reference to identify good practises and failures and use it to suggest further improvements from a legal point of view. So far, so good.

ICOs should definitely NOT be regulated.
The massive fluctuations we see in the cryptoworld are possible only as a result of the unregulated environment ICOs and cryptocurrencies are immersed within.. regulate it and you'll get something like the stock market where the only ones who make profits are insider traders and hedge funds.
Regulators please leave our cryptos alone..

I'm afraid regulation can bring only decrease in profits and increase the level of inefficiency 

Good ideas, SEC wants to such things, so maybe in one day, ICO will be regulated like IPO

ICO's are creating so many new opportunities. This is how new ventures start.

Take the one I am currently backing with my signature. Its a bunch of young guys from Maryland university, brilliant minds who will probably make a massive change to the security of the Internet at reasonable price. A fantastic way to utilize block-chain for the Internet.

The problem with regulating cryptocurrency is that the same rules would then have to apply to FIAT currencies. FIAT is in actual fact a cryptocurrency - the difference is the technology with old style encryption. IE water marks and difficult to copy patterns on bank notes.