Guest Post by Patrick Dahm
(Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Patrick’s blog here. We would like to thank Patrick for graciously allowing us to reproduce this article on this site for our readers.)
This is my speech at the first Computational Law & Blockchain Festival – Singapore Node on 17 March 2018. In it, I tried to explain what initial coin offerings are, why governments all over the world eye them curiously, and how governments regulate them – if they regulate them. I also questioned why brick and mortar governments regulate something so digital.
Hi, I’m Patrick.
I’m a lawyer. I practise cyberlaw, as I like to call it. Although this is derived from the term cyberspace, which seems to be a bit vintage. It shouldn’t be, if you ask me.
I’m here to talk about initial coin offerings, or ICOs. I shall try to do so, and then some.
To be honest, I’m not a fan of initial coin offering as a term. Neither is the MAS, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, which doesn’t call them that. The MAS calls them digital token offerings, which is so much better.
Here’s why.
Initial Public Offerings
Initial coin offering resembles the traditional term initial public offering. An initial public offering is the first time shares of a private company are offered to the public. Think of listings on the stock exchange.
