Ever since cryptocurrencies became popular, and token sales started emerging left and right - there has not been a single ICO that was approved by the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Instead, the regulator has been targeting each individual ICO, even going as far as to claim that most of them are selling securities. Companies have been at war with the SEC because of it for years, some even entering a legal conflict, such as Kik. In addition to the SEC still not knowing what to think of cryptocurrencies, the watchdog also failed to introduce proper regulatory guidelines, as of yet.
Now, a single firm made history by being the first one to get the SEC's approval to hold its token sale and raise money — Blockstack PBC.
Blockstack is a startup that has created a blockchain-based network for dApps. The company managed to gain the SEC's approval to hold an ICO this Wednesday, July 10th. It requested permission to hold a proposed $28 million ICO, and it received an approval under Regulation A+, a regulation established under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.
This particular act allows firms to try and raise a maximum of $50 million in a way that is not an IPO. The approval's unique feature allows the public to invest as well, while all previous ICOs were held without the SEC's approval, under Regulation D, which allows IPOs like ICOs, although limits them only to accredited investors.
As expected, the SEC's approval and support did come at a price. According to the company's founder, Muneeb Ali, the firm had to spend around $2 million in order to receive support and approval for their token sale.
This is also not the first time that Blockstack is holding an ICO. It had one before, back in 2017, when the ICO hype was at its highest. Back then, the company managed to raise $47 million from accredited investors. This was also an ICO under Regulation D, as explained earlier. In addition to this, the company also previously managed to raise around $5 million venture capital funding.
Naturally, the company attracted quite a lot of attention and inspired multiple headlines in the last 24 hours. Many find it to be quite promising, despite the fact that its pitch does not really stand out from countless other dApp-supporting platforms that aim to raise funds for furthering their project. But, Blockstak does host around 165 applications on its network, which is a pretty great number. It definitely stands out thanks to the fact that it is the first ICO to receive the SEC's approval, at least.
As for the ICO itself, it will offer a token called Stacks. The token will be needed in order for network participants to register other digital assets, including things such as domain names, or for writing and executing smart contracts. Naturally, it will also be used for processing transaction fees within the project's decentralized network.
According to the project's announcement, the ICO is scheduled to start on Thursday, at 11 a.m. EDT.
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