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To describe several key legal and regulatory considerations for initial coin offering (ICO) issuers and investors seeking to navigate some of the regulatory waters in the rapidly developing space of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies.

Explains securities law, commodities law, tax and anti-money laundering considerations. Introduces the SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) and provides a future outlook.

The dramatic rise in value of Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies in 2017 generated great interest in initial coin offerings as a new form of financing on the part of both investors and companies seeking to raise funds. At the same time, ICOs raise a myriad of complex legal issues in a rapidly evolving regulatory environment in the United States and around the world. Recent regulatory actions make it more likely that most ICOs will be considered to be securities offerings.

Practical guidance from experienced finance, investment management, consumer financial service, tax, and payment systems lawyers.

The term “prepaid card” refers to the pre‐payment of value process, i.e. pay now and extract value later, and describes most of the prepaid/stored value products available today. These cards have largely supplanted paper gift certificates and travelers checks, and are used as alternatives for traditional paper‐based transactions such as payroll payments, cross‐border remittances, and government assistance or welfare benefit programs. However, the same attributes that make open‐system prepaid cards attractive to legitimate customers make them attractive to money launderers. The purpose of this paper is to make the case for subjecting certain prepaid card products (but not all) to Report of International Transportation of Currency or Monetary Instruments (CMIR) requirements.

Addresses how the US law‐enforcement agencies might reconstruct the CMIR enforcement regime to address the unique challenges that prepaid card products present.

The money laundering threat posed by these products is not immediate, but it is not conjectural either. US law‐enforcement agencies (and perhaps ultimately the courts) will be required to address the fourth amendment and privacy issues that may arise when a customs officer “searches” a prepaid card by swiping it and ascertaining the value of the funds associated with that card.

The paper is of value by showing that problem issues can be surmounted, provided the enforcement regime is narrowly targeted to include only those prepaid card products that bear the closest resemblance to currency, and provided the funds associated with those products are maintained in pooled accounts.

The following bibliography focuses mainly on programs which can run on IBM microcomputers and compatibles under the operating system PC DOS/MS DOS, and which can be used in online information and documentation work. They fall into the following categories: