Trading Bitcoin is property for the securities and exchange commission. As when you exchange the coin you exchange it for the coin, not a security that says you own the coin, I actually have it in my wallet to use for purchases or to sell it for something else. Crypto currency is like trading cards you wouldn't need a license to trade a babe ruth rookie card for 1000 crappy cards of no name players regardless if the babe ruth card was yours or a trading card exchange client.
You don't need a license to trade Bitcoin, correct. You do need a license if you do so with other peoples money. Seeking investments for an unregistered security is not something the SEC is a big fan of.
And that is completely ignoring the big question of whether the entire operation is actually doing what it claims to do. For which no evidence whatsoever has been presented.
Shavers bought and sold bitcoin for USD which requires money transmitter regulations, and he knowingly ran a ponzi scheme. We do not trade any investor funds for USD only profits that are taken off the top for our cut to pay ourselves and expenses for the company of which some still remains in bitcoin since, we like Bitcoin. Also as we're not knowingly running a ponzi scheme we do not really need to worry about Shavers.
In the Shavers case, all transactions between investors and Shavers were solely in bitcoin. His supposed business was buying and selling bitcoins for USD, but these transactions did not involve investors. You should really review more about the Shavers case and why it is relevant to your "business".
A couple of excerpts from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/158943320/SEC-v-Shavers-August-6:
The term security is defined as any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond
[or] investment contract
15 U.S.C. § 77b. An investment contract is any contract, transaction, or scheme involving (1) an investment of money, (2) in a common enterprise, (3) with the expectation that profits will be derived from the efforts of the promoter or a third party.
It is clear that Bitcoin can be used as money. It can be used to purchase goods or services, and as Shavers stated, used to pay for individual living expenses. The only limitation of Bitcoin is that it is limited to those places that accept it as currency. However, it can also be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as the U.S.dollar, Euro, Yen, and Yuan. Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money.
So why do securities laws not apply to you?
Rannasha
What would you like to see from us to give proof of our trading. I admit this is the weakest area that we have for transparency as we can't show you trading account information or current coins and open orders being traded as that may screw up our trading and as a result the pool. All we have been able to show is the process of coins we did trade like doge that we have showed.
Keyser Soze
So America; FED says bitcoin is not a currency, IRS taxes it like a commodity, SEC claims it is a property investment, while still being a form of money to the judiciary. Every branch of government has a different stance on this thing wtf. Love this country...
Keyser Soze we'll have to address that in some way to abide by the law. As you probably know and see above the USA doesn't make it easy to understand how and I'm sure they don't make it cheap to do so.
As of the last SEC publication concerning bitcoin it was being deemed as property, like the IRS has it, that would be invested in us to buy and sell to make more of that property, not money, so we have been trying to comply with that idea as our bare minimum amount of regulations till we are able to afford registrations for the whole thing starting with SEC accreditation up to FINcen. Seeing as how the shavers case was a year before this last publication maybe the regulation is different now, wouldn't get shavers out of jail as he was running a blatant ponzi scheme so we would't have heard anything about an appeals case in the news as he got what he deserved for being a scam regardless of bitcoin being money or not for investments.
In a few months regulations wont be of any concern so wait patiently and stay un-involved in the pool if you want till we have them. In the meantime we are seeking advice from people more attuned to the legalities then us. If ceasing trading till we have certification is necessary then that is what we will do if not then we will get those certification in due time to expand. We'll be sure to update everyone on either outcome within the coming weeks to month with a statement from the legal adviser we'd meet with. Sadly hard to find a good bitcoin lawyer in NJ or anywhere, and don't want to trust a regular business lawyer as I'm sure they'll tell us what requires the most to pay to them, and not what the actual stance is for the law on Bitcoin
Feel free to refer some Bitcoin attorneys to us.
