Wireline Settles SAFT Suit With SEC; Peirce Partially Dissents

SEC v. Kik doesn’t have to be game-over for Kik or SAFTs. In fact, the decision is perhaps more favorable than the SEC v. Telegram order. On the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive, crypto entrepreneurs and Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, or SAFT, proponents in general by ruling in favor of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive. The case was instigated by the SEC in June 2019 when the SEC filed an enforcement action against Kik Interactive Inc., (referred to in the complaint....

Peirce also pushed back against an emerging government narrative that cryptocurrency is a dangerous rail for terrorist financing.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissioner, Hester Peirce says while defi tokens carry some equity-like benefits, she believes that giving something away is distinct from selling something. As a result of this lack of clarity, Peirce says questions about the regulatory structure and how these tokens could affect corporate governance will continue to linger. Speaking at the LA Blockchain Summit, the Commissioner’s remarks, which Peirce says represent her personal views, were made in response to the question of treating governance tokens that are used by many decentralized finance....

Do the new safe harbors against integration pave the way for a successful SAFT process? Earlier this year, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission — in both the SEC versus Telegram and SEC versus Kik cases — vigorously argued that sales of contractual rights to acquire tokens on a when-issued basis (widely referred to as Simple Agreements for Future Tokens, or SAFTs) should be integrated with later sales of the tokens. When the judges in those cases issued rulings agreeing with the SEC, it felt like a door was closing on the SAFT process, making it unworkable for future crypto....

New regulations take time to allow for public feedback, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said at CoinDesk's Bitcoin for Advisors conference.