The Distributed Markets conference took place in Chicago on April 23, 2018, and featured an array of blockchain and financial experts working to shed light on opportunities and changes happening in the cryptocurrency space.
[1]
Among the main goals of the conference was to educate attendees on how they could integrate blockchain technology into their businesses, thereby increasing cost-effectiveness and overall efficiency. A Blockchain Academy workshop and a hackathon were also available to give developers and entrepreneurs a chance to study blockchain macro cases and showcase their skills.
In a panel moderated by Joseph Bradley, entitled “Crypto Regulation: Striking a Balance Between Compliance and Growth,” speakers Colleen Sullivan of CMT Digital; Illinois state regulator Sean T. O’Kelly; Haimera Workie, senior director of FINRA’s Office of Emerging Regulatory Issues; and Tennessee blockchain lawyer J. Gray Sasser of Frost Brown Todd addressed the topic of regulation.
Perhaps the biggest issues hitting the crypto arena are regulation, and how tokens and virtual assets should be classified. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), for example, has jurisdiction over commodities like bitcoin and lists bitcoin futures on regulated interest exchanges.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), however, which works to regulate securities and all derivatives of securities, is now seeking to label all tokens distributed[2] through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as such, which could subject them to strict regulatory tactics that could seriously decrease their values. The SEC has since issued several subpoenas to virtual asset enterprises to better understand how certain tokens have been issued and marketed.
Sullivan was quick to tackle this issue. “All securities have to be traded on registered securities exchanges in the United States,” she told the audience.
She explained that the SEC first weighed in on cryptocurrencies in July of 2017, when it
