[joosters]

...the mechanism behind the ICOs is a solid one...

Only if you ignore the very large risk of SEC enforcement, given that most ICOs are securities. (and claiming that ICO investments are 'donations', like some have tried, isn't going to cut it!)

[mrwong]

95% of People on this planet are not affected by the SEC. (they live outside of the US)

[alexasmyths]

The same entities in other parts of the world will take similar action, because of the inherent problems with ICOs as a financial instrument.

But it won't matter - the SEC won't have to do anything.

After the flood of ICO's this year - investor will see how most of them are bust, and will pull their money out.

The market will correct itself on that one.

[mrwong]

just like the market corrected after Bitcoin hit 1$ the first time 10$ the first time 100$ the first time 1000$ the first time. 8000$ the first time.

Sure markets correct, but somehow the ride continued.

I love how Silicon Valley was ridiculing industries like print, brick and mortar commerce and old-media for not adopting to the new future technologies.

But now that something appeared that challenges SVs status quo, they do just the same and dismiss it. I think this shows that legacy thinking is a psychological problem and not an IQ problem.

[guiomie]

I find quite entertaining how you just generalized every company and individual in SV as dismissing crypto. There is no undenying VCs have always been a central part of SV, and tons of them are invested in blockchain companies, their are tons of blockchain startups in SF/SV and some big tech companies like Microsoft are also involved.

[mbaha]

Couldn't agree more. Although to be more precise, ETH/ICOs are threatening the standard financing model proper in Silicon Valley, and not SV as a whole.

I basically see the future as being both really dystopic and utopic at the same time:

So (mostly rich) people will be able to invest their money without any friction, but this will destroy the rent-seeking institutions that weren't meant to exist in the first place

=> power to the geeks and the rich, but you won't be able to make any money by just making "deals".

Would love to be convinced otherwise though....

[alexasmyths]

"ETH/ICOs are threatening the standard financing model"

ICOs are challenging nothing.

ICOers are selling 'numbers' for real money - and the value of those 'numbers' is going to zero pretty quickly.

BTC will be around for a while, but these ICO-ers are selling nothing in return for real money, and that won't last. It will end soon.

Nobody has a 'lock' on the 'VC' model. Anyone can invest - including you. The issue relates mostly to regulations, which are there to protect you - and also actual ownership of assets, which is a pretty big deal.

[wpietri]

The relevant factor for market regulation is not the number of people but the size of the market.

The US stock market is 39% of all publicly traded stocks. The US market is bigger than the next 8 countries put together. Source: https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/indicators/CM.MKT.LCAP.CD/r...

Moreover, countries with successful stock markets tend to follow similar rules because they coordinate with one another. The US is a leader in that.

[madeofpalk]

China has banned ICOs https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/04/chinas-central-bank-has-ba...

[mycall]

Not all https://themerkle.com/can-neo-become-chinas-go-to-platform-f...

[zerostar07]

would you be interested in a bet on what the EU will do ?

[jMyles]

Thwarting, undermining, and ultimately abolishing the violent habits of the heavy-handed and centralized state infrastructure is obviously a part of the vision for this tech.

In other words, it's not really production-ready until the SEC is unable to harass, intimidate, and target.

[xtracto]

One of the things I have heard a lot nowadays in the blockchain scene is that people like to call it "utility tokens" trying get a pass from the SEC and CSA (who also recently ruled that ICO's tokens are securities)