Everything Ex-CFTC Chair Gary Gensler Said About Cryptos Being Securities

Who could review 1,000 to 2,000? But other than maybe CryptoKitties - which I think CryptoKitties is not a security, I'm not sure it's an ICO though - I tend to agree with him.

I don't think it's any longer question of if, I don't think it's a question of when, ICOs really must comply with securities, commodities and derivatives laws here in the U.S. and frankly around the globe.

Lastly a regulator talking to you all, the question is what tools in the regulatory tool kit does a regulator use? Is it some enforcement actions, give a few speeches and expect the market to come into compliance? Is it hoping that private citizens will bring private rights of actions? Or is it also in addition using the rule writing authority? And I think you've seen that at the CFTC at the agency I was honored to run, but I think you'll see that at the SEC at some point too.

That's really a discussion between them and the SEC and ultimately the way I would think is if the SEC declares that there're securities that might end up in court, and so it won't be the SEC it maybe not even a federal district court but an appellate court, that will decide or the Supremes.

Let me say this, if they decide that they're not securities, I think that too probably ends up in court and the reason is is because somebody else will say, 'well why are they getting out of regulation and I'm not.

I think there's a reasonable case to be made that if you can come into compliance, if the securities and exchange commission gives some number of months and I don't know that that's the right period of time, but some number of months or a year or whatever to come into compliance, then they'll look forward.

For the big market cap ones, there needs to be clarity in the market and if the clarity in the market is that they're not securities they might still be commodities, they might still need to comply with all of those laws, but I think it's a period of time, but if you do an issuance now in April of 2018 do it under the US securities laws.

Yes, if you comply with all the exemptions and all the requirements of Reg D. Do I think that a SAFT or a multi-staged where you can one day be a security and a year or two later no be, or in essence, filecoin's token, not to pick on them but it's a real case, will filecoin's token not have to be registered?

That's between them and the securities lawyers at the SEC. I think that at the core is the economics.

If somebody's raising a quarter of a billion dollars as filecoin did or $1.7 billion as Telegram did, and the market is the size that the market is, there's a lot of investors who are investing and then I think the laws should adapt.