EPICentre presents: Initial Coin Offerings & Securities Laws

Initial Coin Offerings and Securities Laws: When does a cryptocurrency become a security?
Crypto currencies seeking to scale their business models need access to capital. One of the novel ways they have used to attract capital, has been through the use of an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as a prerequisite to being able to purchase shares in a particular start up. The advantage of this method is the ability to get around existing requirements regarding Initial Public Offerings (IPO). The question remains however: Is this simply a way to avoid existing securities regulations, or is there a substantive difference between the two? This talk will discuss what position regulators have taken in Ontario and the United States and discuss the laws that apply to determining whether an ICO is really an IPO by another name, whether they will have to comply with existing securities laws and what this may mean for a burgeoning start up. 
Special Guest Speaker: Dr. Muharem Kianieff
Muharem Kianieff is an Associate Professor at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law working in the areas of Banking Law and Payment Systems. His research looks at the role that regulation plays as it applies to innovations in payment mechanisms and financial technology. By using economic and historical analyses, Kianieff seeks to make proposals for reform that make products safer for consumers and increases access to justice. His current research examines the emergence of Blockchain technology to study what impact it will have on established consumer protection doctrines in commercial law. In Winter 2018, he will be a Grotius Research Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.