ICO可被視爲證券並受聯邦監管
The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday declared that offers and sales of digital assets by “virtual” organisations — sometimes known as initial coin offerings, or ICOs, or token sales — could be deemed securities and subject to federal regulation.
美國證交會(SEC)週二宣佈，“虛擬”組織發行或出售數字資產——有時稱爲初始數字貨幣發行(ICO)或代幣(token)發行——可被視爲證券並受聯邦監管。The regulator’s report stems from an inquiry it launched in response to a sale of tokens by The DAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation that use distributed ledger or blockchain technology to operate.
SEC的報告源於其針對去中心化自治組織(Decentralised Autonomous Organisation)The DAO發起的一次調查。The DAO使用分佈式賬本或區塊鏈技術實現運營。The tokens, according to the SEC, represented interests in its enterprises and were sold to investors in exchange for a kind of virtual currency known as “Ether”. Investors received certain voting and ownership rights along with their tokens, which they could also sell on certain secondary platforms.
根據SEC的說法，代幣代表着發行企業的權益，並被賣給投資者，以換取一種名爲“以太”的虛擬貨幣。投資者獲得一定的投票權和所有權以及代幣，這些代幣也可以在某些二級平臺上出售。
Ultimately, the SEC deemed that the tokens were securities.
最終，SEC把代幣視爲證券。
The SEC said it was not pursuing any charges or findings of violations but would use the example to caution industry participants:
SEC表示，其不尋求提起任何指控或查實違規，但會用這個例子來提醒行業參與者：“the federal securities laws apply to those who offer and sell securities in the United States, regardless whether the issuing entity is a traditional company or a decentralized autonomous organization, regardless whether those securities are purchased using US dollars or virtual currencies, and regardless whether they are distributed in certificated form or through distributed ledger technology.”
“聯邦證券法律適用於在美國發行和出售證券的機構，無論發行實體是傳統公司還是去中心化自治組織，無論這些證券是使用美元還是虛擬貨幣購買，也無論這些證券是否以認證形式或分佈式賬本技術來分發。“The SEC’s move could complicate the rapidfire growth of the crypto-currency market, which has been powered by decentralised settlement technology known as blockchain. The value of these digital currencies — which include bitcoin — has been estimated to be worth as much as $91bn, although what the tokens actually represent can be unclear.
SEC此舉可能使加密貨幣市場的快速增長變得複雜化，名爲區塊鏈的分佈式結算技術爲該市場的增長提供了動力。這些數字貨幣（包括比特幣）的估值高達910億美元，儘管尚不清楚實際上哪種代幣具有代表性。SEC chairman Jay Clayton said in a statement:
SEC主席傑伊?克萊頓(Jay Clayton)在一份聲明中說：The SEC is studying the effects of distributed ledger and other innovative technologies and encourages market participants to engage with us. We seek to foster innovative and beneficial ways to raise capital, while ensuring – first and foremost – that investors and our markets are protected.
SEC正在研究分佈式賬本等創新技術的影響，並鼓勵市場參與者與我們接觸。我們尋求培育出籌集資金的創新和有益的方式，同時又確保投資者和我們的市場得到保護——這一點是最重要的。
