Steem Media Tokens, good idea but at what costs (legally)?

in smt •  7 years ago 

I read some of the whitepaper released a day ago on SMTs. I like the idea and would like to release a token myself but then after I reasoned about it I started to wonder if something like this would even apply to me? To make myself clear, we do not yet know how SMTs will be perceived by the SEC but if they look a lot like securities then are they securities? If they are securities then how much risk is it to use the SMT infrastructure? Considering the cost of launching a security can cost in the tens of thousands in terms of compliance fees and then also the technical cost of setting up the SMT it will not be so simple as merely pushing a button.

The SMT is a great idea but I don't know if it's going to be useful if it brings SEC regulators onto the platform due to Americans trying to issue securities without doing the legal paperwork. If the SMT infrastructure were to streamline the legal processes then I would find it particularly useful.

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I don't know yet how I feel about the SMT, it seems like it will increase the value of steem at least in the short term. Then again, one of the larger criticisms of ETH is the shady ICO side of things. Seems like it could be a cash grab. I really don't know though.

It is good stuff.
SMT is taking over steemit.
This is the kind of conversation we need to push steem to the top.
It could be our ticket to a billion dollar valuation.
Keep on steemit @dana-edwards.

I actually have to say I agree. If SMT is build over Steemit and done right then yes over 1 billion is something easily achieved in theory. If we look at what Steem would do with a functioning SMT then it would do what Ethereum currently does plus decentralized Reddit.

Excellent point @dana-edwards but i believe corporation with the likes of Aragon Project (another cryptocurrency which deals with legal aspect within the crypto space) or similar projects would be a move in the right direction...Once the necessary protocol has been establish depending on the objectives of SMT being issued then necessary guidelines could be put into place...these issues are being tackle as we speak, so its a matter of better understanding your product and trying to meet the guidelines if it becomes an issue

What is Aragon project?

Its basically the project trying to deal with the legal aspect of crypto, ensuring that correct protocol and varying legal aspect are met...it also deals with providing jurisdiction among other things, that's why i believe that projects similar to this can to used in collaboration to meet the necessary guidelines as recommended by SEC

@dana-edwards I'm very interested in how they're going to approach ICOs already launched or in the process of launching. There's already a glut of ICOs, its possible we'll see a funding "arms race" where US companies are rushing to release their ICOs before the SEC comes down on them. And what about ones already completed that have tokens. Do you think they will be grandfathered, or will they push regulation on them and make them pay similar fees as traditional securities?

It's possible to do ICOs legally but it's very hard and not really worth it. I would rather use my tokens to set up something more direct, buy the tokens to pay for services my business offers. No "ICO" or any securities but sell a service which can only be bought with the token.

Seems to me you are about to follow very closely the SMT developments. SMT probably comes with HF21 and parallelism with HF22.

So you still have some time to ponder these questions.

great post

Seems quite impossible atm to streamline upfront a legal process for a phenomenon that hasn't been an option when the laws were made. It could be different per country so in many cases a judge would make a ruling on this to interpret current legislation until laws catch up to a situation where SMT is legally described and the consequences are clear.

In the US at least, there is some fuzziness but certain things clearly are securities. In some other places ICOs are completely banned.

thanks friend for so important information..

Thanks for sharing this post.

Still confused about SMT

Just launch it and let the users deal with all that later I say!

Why bring up these silly "legality" details?

:sarcastic eyeroll: