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by charlesdm 3127 days ago
Not fun for them, but nevertheless a very interesting lawsuit. What I am interested in is the fact they used a Swiss foundation that they don't actually control.

What happens when a US judge allocates damages for certain actions? They declare personal bankruptcy? US judgements are also not always enforceable abroad, so is it imaginable the foundation gets to keep the money regardless of the outcome of any lawsuit? I would guess so.
1 comments
paulsutter 3127 days ago
Ethereum was the first cryptocurrency to form a foundation in Zug, and its a popular structure. Generally the code and system are open sourced, and a nonprofit foundation controls the money raised in the ICO.

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/500-million-business_crypto-pig...

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nivertech 3127 days ago
All those Zug-incorporated ICOs exploiting loopholes in civil law:

1. Tokenizing non-profit foundations (stiftungs), while traditional "stiftung foundation has no shares or members" [1]

2. Pretending that token allocations are unrelated to donations/contributions.

3. Using nonprofit foundations for clearly for-profit speculative activity.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stiftung

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Hermel 3127 days ago
It's not so clear. For Ethereum, it worked well. The foundation is non-profit, financing the creation of an open-source system. And those who donated get to use one instance that system. The rights to use the system come in the firm of transferrable coins, and can turn out to be valuable.

It is not an ideal construction, but can make sense. The foundation is used as a funding vehicle for a common prpject, but it is still non-profit.

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microtherion 3127 days ago
As a Swiss, I'm saddened that my country seems to have found yet another way to get involved in shady financial dealings.
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Hermel 3127 days ago
The problem is not that setting up such a structure is possible, the problem is the lack of suitable alternative legal structures that are better suited for the job. For that, regulation needs to be relaxed.
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mrschwabe 3127 days ago
Are they 'exploiting loopholes' or are they simply looking for a hole from which to escape exploitation?
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