[laxatives]

They have $200M because people donated. The ICO is described as a fundraiser, not an investment, because it reduces liability and opportunity for government intervention. In exchange for "donation" you get XTZ. Presumably, you expect that XTZ to grow in value to make a net profit.

The upshot is that its a word that is synonymous with investment, but requires less responsibility. On the flipside, they could disappear and your are out of luck because the government won't regulate donations as carefully as securities.

[wavefunction]

So attempting to skirt and breaking the law is what is meant by 'donated?'

[sjg007]

This is some weird kickstarter hybrid analogy... Basically you can fund a kickstarter for some reward (typically the product), say a sous vide machine or an oculus or a video game.. Maybe in the future these will be worth more than what you paid. Nominally if you et a sous vide machine for $50 but they sell for $200 later, then you could make $150. Now you could say here that you get a set of bits that might be useable in some network and might be worth more later? I dunno. Clearly the sous vide machine is not a security.. I guess b/c it has utility for heating water.. even if a limited amount of sous vide machines are ever made. The tokens have no utility until some other product/platform/network exists in which to use them? It is a weird argument.