David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Telegram to Delay TON (GRAM) Token Launch for Spring of 2020

Ahead of a US Securities and Exchange Commission court hearing, the Telegram team decided to delay the actual token launch.

                             

Telegram may want the least complications in its upcoming hearing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For that reason, the project sent out a message to ICO participants, stating the distribution of TON tokens would be delayed at least until April 2020. At this point, the token distribution may give the SEC more grounds to state that Telegram will distribute an

unregistered security via exchanges.

“Telegram never held a public ICO and instead raised funds directly from 171 private investors, each of whom were verified as "professional clients," meaning that they have sufficient wealth to avoid the usual level of protection provided by the SEC. Nevertheless, the government claims that the distribution of those tokens itself should be considered as a public offering of securities, even though Gram tokens are clearly meant to be used as money and not as shares in the Telegram app,” commented Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.

The SEC called for a court order to halt the activity of the Telegram token-based project, based on claims that the TON digital asset was an unregistered security. Currently, large-scale ICO backers still hold onto the tokens, with only a small-scale secondary market on derivatives

based on TON (GRAM) tokens.

The SEC's move to shut down Telegram's crypto project raises questions about the big venture capital firms that gave it $1.7 billion and convinced themselves that it would pass regulatory muster. That includes Benchmark, Sequoia and Lightspeed.

The Telegram ICO, which reportedly gathered the equivalent of $1.7 billion, did not go through a crowdsale, which may diminish the impact of the SEC action. Unfortunately, all backers had to wait for more than a year until the token launch. The SEC announced its decision to block the token project just two weeks before the tokens were supposed to be unlocked for trading. The Telegram ICO was supposed to be an event to boost the performance of the altcoin market, with a long-awaited asset that also has a strong use case within the Telegram ecosystem. Unfortunately, the announcement that the token sale was illegal broke down optimism further. The GRAM token was also supposed to be another instance of using a digital asset within a well-established product, the Telegram chat app. Unfortunately, the launch is not going to be used as a gauge on the potential success of Facebook’s Libra. In the past, multiple projects tried and failed to link mainstream chat products with a token. The Status Network project did not have an appealing chat product, and Kik saw

its token attacked by the SEC as well.

The SEC's move to shut down Telegram's crypto project raises questions about the big venture capital firms that gave it $1.7 billion and convinced themselves that it would pass regulatory muster. That includes Benchmark, Sequoia and Lightspeed. 

The Telegram ICO, which reportedly gathered the equivalent of $1.7 billion, did not go through a crowdsale, which may diminish the impact of the SEC action. Unfortunately, all backers had to wait for more than a year until the token launch. The SEC announced its decision to block the token project just two weeks before the tokens were supposed to be unlocked for trading.

The Telegram ICO was supposed to be an event to boost the performance of the altcoin market, with a long-awaited asset that also has a strong use case within the Telegram ecosystem. Unfortunately, the announcement that the token sale was illegal broke down optimism further. The GRAM token was also supposed to be another instance of using a digital asset within a well-established product, the Telegram chat app. Unfortunately, the launch is not going to be used as a gauge on the potential success of Facebook’s Libra. In the past, multiple projects tried and failed to link mainstream chat products with a token. The Status Network project did not have an appealing chat product, and Kik saw its token attacked by the SEC as well.

Article Produced By
Christine Masters

Business writer with a knack for bubbles and market madness. Has tracked it all: the financial crisis of 2008 and the implosion of Lehman Brothers; bank bailouts and peak gold and silver, penny stocks…and now Christine has moved to cryptocurrencies for fresh stories.

https://cryptovest.com/news/telegram-to-delay-ton-gram-token-launch-for-spring-of-2020/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

The Perth Mint Issues a Digital Token Backed by Physical Gold Reserves

                                

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

STO is the abbreviation of security token offering.

It is similar to ICO which uses the coin or token as an asset in the investment. There is a difference though. The security token signifies the ownership information of assets like funds, real estate, bonds, and stocks. In the STO, the investment product is comprehensive with the physical assets like company or property, or everything else. Meanwhile, the security token represents the ownership information. The data is within the blockchain. In the conventional investment method, your ownership information will be recorded on physical documents or the soft copy in PDF. Meanwhile, the STO conducts the same process but your information is recorded on a blockchain and converted into a token.

The coin in STO may not be used for the environment or investment. It focuses on the investment contract supervised by law. STO is also different from IPO. The most significant difference is that STO issues the tokens on the blockchain. Meanwhile, IPO issues the certificates in conventional markets. Being involved in the STOs can be difficult because these are regulated depending on the jurisdiction of the party. For instance, the SEC – Securities and Exchange Commission really emphasizes the importance of STO’s regulations. According to SEC, ICO rating will be categorized as a security if it is prevalent with investment contract understanding. Security tokens have special characteristics. We could define them as a specific investment like a share or debt instrument.

Any countries have banned STO. You won’t be seeing any STORY in these countries: India, Bolivia, China, Vietnam, South Korea, Algeria, Namibia, Morocco, Zimbabwe, Lebanon, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Nepal. If your countries are not on the list, that does not merely mean that STO is allowed. Perhaps, your governments are still weighing to issue the regulations. The real-world asset is backing the security token. As we know about the utility token, it can be daunting to assess the value of the token although we’ve seen their good ICO rating on the ICO list. But with the security token, you will have peace of mind since it is backed with the physical asset. It is a lot easier to confirm the token value. STO is much cheaper compared to the traditional IPO. The strongest reason is that because there is no middleman.

Meanwhile, the smart contracts of security token will also minimize the connection to lawyers. That means the blockchain technology can help you to alter the paperwork. The liquidity of a security token is also great. No matter where you are, you will be able to trade 24/7. STOs are legal. With the increasing number of investors, the volatility can go away. But there will always be challenges lurking in the shadows. Perhaps, the most challenging aspect of STO is the changes in regulation. The increased regulation can revolve around ownership tracking, exchange approvals, and so on. The developer of the STO should be aware of the securities laws to comply. The regulations in some countries might also limit folks to invest in STO. If you are interested in it, make sure you do your research before proceeding.

Article Produced By
Lorena Boanda

Experienced Chief Executive Officer at Brantell, Coindoo, and TheCCPress, with a demonstrated history of working in the writing and editing industry. Skilled in SEO Content, Copywriting, Creative Writing, Copy Editing, Translation, and Proofreading.

https://coindoo.com/what-is-an-sto-and-how-it-works/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

4 Interesting Notes Regarding Milestone Token Offerings

                             

Token offerings come in many different shapes, forms, and sizes.

That is only par for the course, as the cryptocurrency industry continues to grow and evolve at all times. Milestone Token offerings are seemingly the new hot trend, although they are not as common as one might think. Another interesting business model, albeit one with a bit more merit compared to other types of token offerings.

The Milestone Token Offering Idea

Whereas most token offerings are based on selling a large number of tokens in advance prior to launching a project, the MTO takes a different approach. It is somewhat refreshing to see teams explore options which do not require investors to invest in hopium and hype, but rather look at a project and see what has been realized to date. Whether or not this will attract as much attention as Initial, Security, or Exchange Token offerings, is a very different matter altogether.

As the name somewhat suggests, the Milestone Token offering is very different. Teams will only offer tokens for sale once their development reaches a new milestone on the roadmap. As such, the initial development is very little upfront funding,  and it pushes the developers to effectively keep working on the project moving forward. It seems to be a more goal-driven token offering rather than a money-driven effort, but it remains to be seen if that will yield more successful blockchain projects in the years to come.

What about Regulation?

By the look of things, milestone token offerings will need to adhere to securities laws in the United States and beyond. It will fall into a few possible categories when it comes to securities, but it is advised any project exploring this option to get in touch with the proper authorities. After all, it is also possible to issue utility tokens through this model, but it seems more likely security-esque offerings will become the norm where this business model are concerned.

One also has to wonder who will be able to participate as an investor. Given how this business model seems to lean toward being regulatory compliant, it is not impossible to expect going through a thorough user verification process. After all, the goal of an MTO is to build a bigger community and attract additional funding based on the past and future developments. As such, accredited investors seem to be a very plausible target, especially for projects which are very serious about being regulatory compliant.

Multi-phase Funding is Possible

It would appear there are some interesting options for companies exploring a milestone token offering. One can organize multiple of these token sales to attract a few dozen new investors along the way. As such, they can split every token sale into different batches if they see fit to ensure as many people can get in on the action as possible. One project currently exploring this option is Storecoin, as they will offer multiple phased pricing rounds. A peculiar option to explore, albeit one that may have some merit.

Is it a Viable Business Model?

That is perhaps the most difficult question waiting to be answered. While milestone token offerings are not exactly the big hype as of yet, it would appear there may be a growing interest in this business model moving forward. Especially for legitimate companies, this is a good alternative to ICOs, STOs, and ETOs. Gaining traction with this token sale model may be very difficult at first, as these new models tend to get scrutinized quite a bit. That is to be expected, as token sales do not enjoy the best reputation in the cryptocurrency industry.

Article Produced By
JP Buntinx

https://themerkle.com/4-interesting-notes-regarding-milestone-token-offerings/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden

Ethereum Consortium Launches Token Initiative With Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, Others

The Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) has launched a blockchain-neutral Token

Taxonomy Initiative in partnership with major firms, according to a press release from EEA on April 17. The initiative will seek to define tokens in non-technical and cross-industry terms in a bid to drive enterprise token adoption at scale. The EEA describes itself “a member-driven standards organization whose charter is to develop open, blockchain specifications that drive harmonization and interoperability.” Members of the initiative reportedly include global consulting firm Accenture, major banks Santander and JPMorgan Chase, blockchain incubator ConsenSys, Big Four auditor EY, tech giants Intel, Microsoft and IBM, blockchain consortium R3, international think-tank The Blockchain Research Institute, blockchain r&d firm Clearmatics and others.

The new Token Taxonomy Initiative will aim to establish a shared set of terms and definitions for tokens — whichever blockchain they derive from — as a cornerstone for businesses and developers. Standardization, the EEA’s director Ron Resnick argues, can unlock the frictionless use of tokens “to serve as, or provide access to, a set of goods, financial assets, securities, services, value or content” within enterprise-grade blockchain applications.

As well as clarifying the concept and scope of the token model, the initiative will seek to address use cases, taxonomy and terminology and technical specifications. To this end, the project will aim to establish technical standards that can counter fragmentation between multiple blockchain protocols and ensure interoperability between platforms and use cases — whether the tokens serve currency-like purposes or represent unique assets. The initiative will be structured to include a Token Taxonomy Framework accompanied by an educational initiative, which will be run through structured Token Definition Workshops.

As previously reported, the EEA — which counts over 500 members — is engaged in ongoing token standards work, which began with a focus on Ethereum (ETH) specifications. In fall 2018, Hyperledger and EEA announced their mutual associated membership. The organization extended its global outreach by opening a regional office in China this February. That same month, the EEA announced it would be launching a so-called “token task force,” to be focused on ETH-derived fungible ERC-20 and non-fungible ERC-721 tokens.

Article Produced By
Erica Borges

https://cryptobible.io/ethereum-consortium-launches-token-initiative-microsoft-jpmorgan-chase-others/

David https://markethive.com/david-ogden