SEC Approves Blockchain Company’s Application For Public Token Offering

In a first, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), approved an earlier application which was submitted by a blockchain startup, Blockstack. The start up had submitted an application to conduct its public token offering.News portal, Stmarket reported that following the filing in April, Blockstack plans to raise at $20-$50 million through the sale of Stacks (STX) token, a utility token for its blockchain and has now received regulatory approval to do so.The portal further stated that the startup uses Reg A+ framework which was introduced by the SEC in 2012, thus allowing them to sell tokens to the general public as opposed to just accredited investors in the case of Initial Public Offerings and fundraising efforts under Reg D.This news comes as a breath of fresh air, given that last month, the SEC had launched a legal missive against messaging app Kik and its token, Kin. At the time, the regulatory body sued the app for conducting an illegal $100 million securities offering of digital tokens. The SEC alleged that Kik sold the tokens to U.S. investors without registering their offer and sale as required by the U.S. securities laws.The animosity between the SEC and Kik had been brewing for a while and matters had come to a head when the latter launched a Defend Crypto campaign against the former. Earlier Crypto-News India had reported that the campaign had stated, “In January 2019, Kin came out publicly to share what has been going on behind the scenes with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This has been a burden for not just Kin, but many others in the space who are optimizing for regulation before innovation. Everyone is always asking “what will the SEC think?” instead of “what is best for consumers?”Liked what you read? Join us on Telegram