Is ether considered an initial coin offering and/or security token, considering its initial pre-sale and the popular use cases of the ether token on the platform? Does one necessarily imply the other? How strong is the case that it is a utility token? How do you evaluate these projects? What is the short-term versus long-term trend for tokenisation for investment, loyalty points, and product / service accessibility?

Note: I am not a lawyer, and there are different perspectives on this subject (including those in the Ethereum community who would describe the ether pre-sale – before it had “usability” – as an ICO: https://blog.ethereum.org/2014/07/22/launching-the-ether-sale/ https://qz.com/1075124/ethereum-founder-vitalik-buterin-discusses-initial-coin-offerings-the-consensus-algorithm-and-the-most-interesting-apps/). This was recorded months prior to the SEC’s announcement regarding its interpretation of token sales and security tokens on June 14th.

These questions were part of the monthly live Patreon Q&A session on March 31st 2018 and the Capgemini CXO Forum at Pebble Beach on November 1-3rd 2017 in Monterey, California (https://youtu.be/rvwVbRQ5Ysc). If you want early-access to talks and a chance to participate in the monthly live Q&As with Andreas, become a patron: https://www.patreon.com/aantonop

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Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a technologist and serial entrepreneur who has become one of the most well-known and respected figures in bitcoin.

Follow on Twitter: @aantonop https://twitter.com/aantonop
Website: https://antonopoulos.com/

He is the author of two books: “Mastering Bitcoin,” published by O’Reilly Media and considered the best technical guide to bitcoin; “The Internet of Money,” a book about why bitcoin matters.

THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v1: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Internet-Money-collection-Andreas-Antonopoulos/dp/1537000454/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

[NEW] THE INTERNET OF MONEY, v2: https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Money-Andreas-M-Antonopoulos/dp/194791006X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

MASTERING BITCOIN: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Bitcoin-Unlocking-Digital-Cryptocurrencies/dp/1449374042

[NEW] MASTERING BITCOIN, 2nd Edition: https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Bitcoin-Programming-Open-Blockchain/dp/1491954388

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29 COMMENTS

  2. Personally I never thought that the SEC's decision would have a huge impact on the market but I'm not sure. All I hope is that coins that have a very strong use case aren't affected surely because they're considered something, for example privacy coins.

  3. This clip couldn't be more contradictory. On the first segment Andreas explains why he thinks ETH it's not a security because etherium is not a company and what they sell it's not a share. However, On the 2nd clip he states that ICOs / digital tokens are shares. I'm sorry Andreas, thumbs down on this.

  4. Right now the ICO space looks like the land of OZ Yet I am stuck in Kansas. I don’t know any Glenda the witch is to guide me through the maze that is the yellow brick road of the 99.9% failures so I’m just going to enjoy the view from here for a while.

  8. I learned a lot about ICO in this video, thanks for sharing but I am curious to hear your thoughts about non ico projects, I've been hearing lots of developments about non ico coins like deeponion and nano. I'm interested to learn the pros and cons of non ico's. Thumbs up to your channel.

  12. What does it take to make a million dollars in this (ICO) space?
    Start with 2 Million.

    LOL!

    These are some awesome shirt memes Andreas! You are so funny. I love it.

  15. I think your kind of missing the point on this one Andreas. ethereum is not a security like oranges aren't securities in the Howey case. But the presales of ether was an investment contract which is a security. That's why the SEC specifically said there comment didn't concern the presale. They can still go after the ethereum foundation and fournders, for the presales of ethers (~70% of total amount of ether in circulation today)

  16. Andreas will regret having stated this opinion in the future. Ethereum is completely useless, except to host ICO tokens, which are only revolutionary if you want to dump on your investors in the most efficient way possible.

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