Lawyers Sound Off on What SEC's Early Loss Really Means for Crypto ICOs and Securities
Don't be fooled. The SEC is not likely going to shy away from policing ICO's in the wake of an early setback in California, securities attorneys say.
November 29, 2018 at 02:51 PM
5 minute read
Lawyers looking at a first-of-its-kind decision this week turning back the SEC's request for a preliminary injunction to block the launch of an initial coin offering cautioned that while the loss is undoubtedly a setback for the agency, it isn't likely to dramatically affect its approach to the ICO market.
U.S District Judge Gonzalo Curiel of the Southern District of California turned back the SEC's injunction bid Tuesday in a case against the backers of the Blockvest ICO. The judge, who previously granted the SEC's ex parte request for a temporary restraining order and froze the assets involved in the ICO, found there was a gap between the two sides' versions of the facts and that the SEC hadn't carried its burden to show Blockvest's BLV tokens were securities.
Securities attorneys contacted in the wake of the decision pointed out that at this stage of the proceedings, where there has not been full discovery, the SEC has the burden of showing there was a violation of the securities laws and a likelihood the violations would be repeated. Curiel found there were factual disputes over whether investors bought into the BLV tokens with an expectation of profit—one of the prongs of the so-called “Howey” test named for the 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case that laid out the ground rules for defining a security.
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