TLDR. Napster blew up the music business with free and illegal. Then we had low cost and legal like Spotify, Pandora and iTunes. The same is happening to innovation capital. The summer of 2017 ICO, kicked off by Bancor, was the now illegal way to raise a lot of money easily and at virtually no cost. That was a lousy deal for investors and naturally then regulators jumped in.
This update to The Blockchain Economy digital book covers:
- What is broken in the legacy innovation capital business
- Why the ICO went too far in the opposite direction
- The news about Blockstack and Reg A
- Reg A Basics
- Blockstack Basics
- Jurisdictional competition will continue
- Context & References
What is broken in the legacy innovation capital business
In March 2017, in Crypto equity via ICO and the other innovation chasm we wrote that:
“Most entrepreneurs understand the chasm between MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and PMF (Product Market Fit). The low cost to build MVP increases supply, but real demand does not change that fast, so lots of MVP ventures fall into the chasm (i.e. they fail).
The next chasm is less well understood. This is the chasm between PMF and Liquidity (via an IPO on the Public Markets and failing that via trade sale).
Today, we don’t see this chasm so clearly because there is a very expensive bridge across it – in a few locations. The very expensive bridge is provided by the big PE/VC Funds.”
Why the ICO went too far in the opposite direction
In 3 hours that shook my world: the Bancor ICO in June 2017 we described Bancor raising over $150 million in 3 hours in an ICO that kicked off the ICO craziness in 2017 when ventures could raise huge sums on not much more than a “minimally viable white paper”. The ICO went too far in the opposite direction – good for the entrepreneur and bad for the investor.
The news about Blockstack and Reg A
The news as reported in many media outlets was that the SEC gave Blockstack the go-ahead to conduct a $28 million digital token offering under Regulation A (which enables smaller companies to raise money from the public with less strenuous accounting and disclosure standards than a traditional IPO).
This is big news because the SEC is creating a new protocol for token offerings under Reg A. This is tokenized early stage crowdfunding. While neither tokens nor crowdfunding are new, this the first time they have been combined in a global market that US public investors can participate in.
America has been losing ground in crypto as it was not perceived as a friendly regulatory environment. This news is a big win for American entrepreneurs and investors.
Reg A Basics
“is an exemption from registration for public offerings. Regulation A has two offering tiers: Tier 1, for offerings of up to $20 million in a 12-month period; and Tier 2, for offerings of up to $50 million in a 12-month period. For offerings of up to $20 million, companies can elect to proceed under the requirements for either Tier 1 or Tier 2.
There are certain basic requirements applicable to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 offerings, including company eligibility requirements, bad actor disqualification provisions, disclosure, and other matters. Additional requirements apply to Tier 2 offerings, including limitations on the amount of money a non-accredited investor may invest in a Tier 2 offering, requirements for audited financial statements and the filing of ongoing reports. Issuers in Tier 2 offerings are not required to register or qualify their offerings with state securities regulators.”
Blockstack Basics
Blockstack describe themselves as the” easiest way to build decentralized apps that can scale” and claim over 120 independent developer teams that have built apps on Blockstack.
Like Ethereum and many ICOs, Blockstack is a developer-focussed open source platform. It is the sort of innovation that the crypto community needs.
Jurisdictional competition will continue
In Some Governments Want To Shut Down Bitcoin But They Don’t Know How we wrote that:
“For a long time, entrepreneurs faced competition and regulators sent them the rule book. Regulators were government employees who thought about competition only in the abstract; competition was something that other people had to worry about.Today, the environment is more fluid as governments recognize the economic return on innovation in terms of jobs and GDP growth. The regulators now face real competition because their political masters have to keep citizens happy and citizens care about jobs and GDP growth. Both Fintech upstarts and incumbent global banks are increasingly mobile; so jobs can disappear fast if regulators get it wrong. Plus, innovation is the primary driver of productivity which drives GDP per capita. Pity the poor regulator who must balance that with protecting citizens from fraud and enforcing existing laws.”
This jurisdictional competition is a good thing because while, the SEC may have got it almost right with Reg A and the Blockstack token offering, there is still room for improvement. If you look at the details, you will see that accredited investors get in early and the public get in later. The public gets in earlier than they do in a traditional IPO, but this is still a two tier market. In a global market with jurisdictional competition, expect big moves by Singapore, Hong Kong, UK, Switzerland the EU and other tech/finance centers.
Context & References
3 hours that shook my world: the Bancor ICO in June 2017.
Crypto equity via ICO and the other innovation chasm
Some Governments Want To Shut Down Bitcoin But They Don’t Know How
Bernard Lunn is a Fintech deal-maker, investor, entrepreneur and advisor. He is CEO of Daily Fintech and author of The Blockchain Economy.
I have no positions or commercial relationships with the companies or people mentioned. I am not receiving compensation for this post.
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