Tag: Blockchain Technology

Cryptocurrencies: There’s Nothing New Under The Sun

On By crowdfundattnyIn Blockchain Technology, CryptocurrenciesLeave a comment

Blockchain technology is revolutionary, promising to disrupt many of today’s industries. In contrast, the cryptocurrencies that live on the blockchain – to avoid confusion, I’m going to refer to cryptocurrencies as “tokens” – are really just high-tech manifestations of traditional ideas.

Broadly speaking, there are three kinds of tokens today:

  • Tokens like Bitcoin that are intended to function as currencies
  • Tokens that represent economic interests in businesses, e., securities
  • Tokens that give the holder some kind of contract right in the business conducted by the issuer, g., a distributed storage network

Tokens that are intended to function as currencies are like, well, they’re like currencies. They’re secure, they’re anonymous (maybe), they’re decentralized, but fundamentally they’re like paper money. The idea of paper money was revolutionary, rendering the barter economy obsolete. A digital representation of paper money is incrementally better, but not revolutionary.

Tokens that are securities – digital stock certificates – are helpful and better than paper or Excel spreadsheets but obviously not revolutionary.

The most interesting kind of tokens are the third:  tokens that give the holder the right to participate in a business.

Imagine you’re Henry Ford designing an automobile. You need a lot of capital. Your investment banker suggests you sell stock on Wall Street, but someone else suggests a different approach. You publish design specifications for your new automobile in something you happen to call a “Whitepaper,” and you sell to the public a limited number of licenses giving the holder the right to manufacture tires (or oil filters, or whatever) based on those specifications.

You just sold tokens, even though the blockchain doesn’t exist and you keep track of the sales in a red leather book.

Financially, you’ve pre-sold licensing rights. Some pros and cons versus selling stock:

  • On the plus side, you still own 100% of your company.
  • On the minus side, you have reduced or eliminated a future revenue stream for the company, e., licensing revenue.
  • On the plus side, because the tokens weren’t a security, you didn’t incur all that time and cost.
  • On the minus side, you really, really care about the quality of your cars – the whole future of your business depends on it – but the tokens might not end up in the hands of the highest-quality suppliers. That’s especially true in a market frenzy that reminds you of Tulip Mania in 1637, where many buyers are low-information speculators.
  • On the plus side, if raising money by pre-selling licensing rights happens to be a super-cool thing, the token sale might raise a lot more money than the licensing rights are actually worth.
  • On the minus side, you didn’t get to deal with securities lawyers.

What about the pros and cons to token buyers?

  • On the minus side, you have far less legal protection, as a buyer and owner of the token, than you would as the buyer and owner of securities in a public company.
  • On the plus side, your specialized expertise as a parts designer or manufacturer might give you a unique ability to increase the value of Ford, and therefore the value of your token.
  • On the minus side, while you know a lot about your own abilities, and might know a lot about Henry Ford and his team, you know nothing at all about the other token buyers. If they turn out to be lousy parts designers and manufacturers, you lose.
  • On the plus side, if you think Ford Motor Company is going to be hugely successful and tokens are the only thing they’re selling, you have no choice.
  • On the minus side, the token probably gives you the right to benefit from only one aspect of the company’s business, g., parts for the the Model T. If the company pivots or expands, you might find yourself left behind.
  • On the plus side, if you’re in a Tulip Mania market, maybe you’ll buy the token today and next week you can double your money selling it to someone else.
  • On the minus side, if we look hard at Ford’s Whitepaper we realize it’s very ambiguous. Do I or Ford really know what I’m getting? Or is this going to end up in litigation?

Who knows where the pros and cons come out. Someday economists will explain whether and in what circumstances a token is more economically efficient than a traditional security.

I feel quite sure that tokens that are currencies and tokens that are digital stock certificates are here to stay, because while not revolutionary, each represents an undeniable, if incremental, improvement over today’s technology. I’m not so sure about tokens that represent prepaid products or services. Until we hear from the economists, the jury is still out.

Questions? Let me know.

CROWDFUNDING AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES

On By crowdfundattnyIn CrowdfundingLeave a comment

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Cryptocurrencies are hot. And often the sale of cryptocurrencies is referred to as Crowdfunding. Unfortunately, the use of “cryptocurrencies” and “Crowdfunding” together creates confusion about both, along with some pretty serious legal risks.

We use “Crowdfunding” to mean raising money for a business or other venture online. We say “donation-based Crowdfunding” when we’re talking about Kickstarter, where people ask for donations. We say “equity-based Crowdfunding” when we’re talking about raising money from investors, who receive a stock certificate or some other security.

A cryptocurrency is, well, hard to pin down. It’s a transaction registered in a distributed, secure database. Because it exists in limited quantities and is secure, it has value. Like anything of value, it can be used as a currency. For purposes of this post, the key feature of a true cryptocurrency is that is has value of itself, like a nugget of gold.

You use Crowdfunding to sell shares of stock. Obviously, the paper certificates representing the shares of stock have no value by themselves, they have value only to evidence ownership in the business that issued the certificates or, more exactly, in the cash flow the business is expected to generate. So it wouldn’t make sense to say “I’m selling nuggets of gold using Crowdfunding.” The nuggets of gold have an intrinsic value without reference to the cash flow of anything else, or at least you hope they do. I can go shopping with a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, just as I can shop with US dollars or, historically, with gold.

This is where things get tricky and words matter. The blockchain – the technology underlying all cryptocurrencies – can be used for a lot of things other than cryptocurrencies. As it happens, one of the things the blockchain can be used for is to keep track of stock certificates. In fact, the blockchain works so well keeping track of stock certificates that it will undoubtedly be used by (or replace) all public stock transfer agents within the next five years.

What’s happening today is that companies are selling what they call “cryptocurrencies” that are really just interests in the future operations of a business, i.e., really just hi-tech stock certificates. Cool, they’re using blockchain technology to keep track of who owns the company! But that doesn’t mean what you’re buying is really a cryptocurrency and that you’re going to get rich like the early buyers of Ethereum.

Words are powerful, and the confusion around cryptocurrencies is deepened by the nomenclature. Sales of cryptocurrencies are often referred to as “initial coin offerings,” or ICOs, which implies a similarity to “initial public offerings,” or IPOs. Yet if we’re being careful, the two have nothing in common. In an IPO a company sells its own securities, which have value only based on the success of the company. In an ICO somebody sells a product that has intrinsic value of itself.

Ignoring the difference is going to land someone in hot water, probably sooner rather than later. A company that sells something it calls a cryptocurrency but is really just a share of stock is selling a security, even if that company has an address near Palo Alto. And a company that sells a security is subject to all those pesky laws from the 1930s. If you sell a cryptocurrency that is really just a hi-tech stock certificate, then not only do you risk penalties from the SEC and state securities regulators, you’ll also face lawsuits from your investors if things don’t go as planned.

How to know whether you’re selling a true cryptocurrency or a hi-tech stock certificate? Here are some tips:

  • If the value of the cryptocurrency depends on the success of the business, it’s a security.
  • If the value of the cryptocurrency depends on, or is backed by, real estate or other property, it’s a security.
  • If the cryptocurrency is marketed as an investment, it’s probably a security.
  • If the value of the cryptocurrency depends what the buyer does with it, rather than the success of the business, it’s probably not a security.
  • If the cryptocurrency merely gives the holder the right to participate in a group effort (g., the development of software), it’s probably not a security.
  • If you’re selling the cryptocurrency in lieu of issuing stock, it’s probably a security.

Using Blockchain Technology In Crowdfunding

On By crowdfundattnyIn CrowdfundingLeave a comment

Guest Co-Author: Benjamin L. Roderick

What Is Blockchain?

Blockchain is the term given to a highly sophisticated database tool that allows “distributed verification.” Most of us heard about blockchain because it is the technological backbone of Bitcoin, the alternative currency, but the possible applications go far beyond that.

To understand what “distributed verification” means, let’s look at a typical Bitcoin transaction, where Franchesca uses her Bitcoin currency to buy a TV from Herb.

On the surface, the transaction is simple: Herb gives Franchesca his TV and Franchesca gives Herb some Bitcoin. But how does Herb know that Franchesca actually owns Bitcoin? And how does he get it from her?  The answer is the blockchain. Distributed all over the world, the blockchain verifies that Franchesca owns Bitcoin, and then records the transfer from Franchesca to Herb, so Herb can use the Bitcoin to buy groceries from Janet.

Benefits of Blockchain

The primary benefits of the blockchain are:

  • It’s secure
  • It provides universal authentication
  • It provides trust for trust-less networks
  • It’s automated
  • It’s almost friction-free, drastically lowering transaction costs
  • It’s easy to audit
  • It’s decentralized
  • It can be (but doesn’t have to be) anonymous.

Here’s a table illustrating where and how blockchain technology can add value:

Ben Roderick Guest Blog Post image

Blockchain technology isn’t perfect yet; some might say it’s not even ready for prime time. Today, the primary drawback is how long it takes to authenticate transactions. A transaction today in Bitcoin takes about 10 minutes to clear, and Bitcoin is a microscopic market compared to, say, credit card transactions. Indeed, the Bitcoin community is engaged in a civil war as to how, or even whether, to change the technology to speed up transactions.

Application of Blockchain Technology

But you can understand why blockchain technology is attracting so much interest from government and private industry. For example, the music industry is plagued by uncertainty over ownership of rights. The title industry exists because of uncertainty as to the ownership of real estate. Credit card issuers spend tens (hundreds?) of millions of dollars processing and authenticating transactions. Airlines have yet to find a way to ensure that every plane is late.

Everyone wants a secure, decentralized, efficient network that can authenticate transactions or information, as long as the FBI gets a back door (no joke).

Here are some possible applications in the Crowdfunding industry:

  • In Title III, we need a centralized system that knows how much an investor has invested in Title III deals.
  • In Title III and Title IV, we need a way to verify the income and net worth of investors.
  • In Title II and Title IV, we could certainly use a way to verify that investors are accredited in some centralized way.
  • A blockchain: the ultimate aggregator and verifier of Crowdfunding deals.

Crowdfunding and blockchain are both pieces of the FinTech industry. We’re going to see blockchain startups raising money using Crowdfunding, and we’re going to see Crowdfunding companies using blockchain technology. A blockchain startup using a Crowdfunding company that uses blockchain technology – that’s not far down the road.

Ben Roderick is currently working on blockchain applications for his MBA Capstone project at Carnegie Mellon University, graduating in May 2016. His email address:  Broderic@tepper.cmu.edu.

Questions? Let me know.