Overview of SEC vs LBRY Ruling

Case No. 21-cv-260-PB Opinion No. 2022 DNH 138 Check it out here. MJeremy Kauffman (C) "The ruling in the SEC vs LBRY case sets a worrying precedent for the whole US crypto scene. If this becomes the norm, it means most crypto assets, even big ones like Ethereum and Doge, could be classified as securities. Looks like the fate of crypto is in the hands of another organization that's as bad, if not worse, than the SEC: the US Congress." I was keeping an eye on the Ripple case, but honestly, the SEC has the power to take down tons of crypto projects.

Most of which should not see the light of day to begin with...

I can see putting Ethereum in there, pre-sale, promises, and a ton of other things. Doge was started as a joke and never made any promises other then 'much coin' But, and this is just me saying this just an opinion, they did a lot of things in terms of marketing, promotion and what not that made them a target. There are a lot of other projects out there that are still around and not being bothered. I don't want to say just another shitcoin scam, but this one got the eyes of the government on it. But, I can't think of any other way to put it. Just my opinion. -Dave

Ethereum has a good lobby. There is no point in continuing to discuss Ethereum. They'll have the best lawyers if there's ever a trial. Larger ecosystems will probably pay a heavy fine, and other projects will be forced to close forever.

I was active on LBRY ~2 years ago and thought they had a really bright future. This answer is bad news, but at least they are no longer stuck waiting. "....and other projects will be forced to close forever." Many projects will simply avoid the USA.

See how projects are attracting investments lately. Projects do not sell tokens, but attract investments to their fund. It does not violate US laws. There is a lot of crap and politics in the crypto industry. Sam Bankman-Freed wasn't punished for fraud. I heard serious people discussing this situation, and the reason for these events was that Sem was allowed to hold several billion, and he began to say the wrong words and get into politics. But maybe it's a rumor. Maybe you can find out the possible real reason for the SEC's aggression against the LBRY. Many projects that sold their tokens no longer exist, but there are still a lot of similar projects that can be closed or fined.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-settles-on-security-claim-in-lbry-case-community-calls-it-a-big-win-for-crypto SEC settles on security claim in LBRY case; community calls it a big win for crypto "The SEC was hoping to seek affirmation on an ambiguous injunction after scoring a victory during a hearing in November 2022, but judges made it clear that the judgment was only for the direct sale. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) admitted on record that the sale of LBRY Credits (LBC) tokens in the secondary market doesn’t constitute a security. The settlement came during an appeal hearing in the LBRY vs. SEC case on Jan. 30."

That's not quite true. I understand we're on bitcoin forum and any form of sh***ting on ETH is encouraged, but in reality, it was made clear that the so-called 'pre-sale' was not an investment (you had to accept a disclaimer in big, bold, red letters saying so), that you were not buying anything, that there was no guarantee that the devs will actually develop anything and that any funds raised were donations to the project and any participants were to be rewarded in ETH tokens, proportionally to their donation, should the project be successful. Objectively speaking, they've done pretty solid work there. This.

The ethereum and ICO team received bitcoins, and bitcoin is a commodity. If you look at the judicial practice, the SEC punishes such projects with a fine in the amount of the amount received for the ICO and penalties. For ethereum, this is a very small fine and the company will pay it, for other projects this fine will be the reason for closing the project.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-revises-lbry-fine-to-111k "SEC revises $22M penalty against LBRY, seeks $111K instead The SEC originally wanted LBRY to pay millions of dollars in penalties, but now concedes the defunct firm can’t pay up that amount The United States securities regulator is seeking to revise its $22 million punishment against decentralized content platform LBRY, acknowledging it is unlikely to be able to cough up the funds to be able to pay it. " At least one positive news about SEC

I'm not familiar with how the US gives punishments to companies, but do stuff like this often happens? How did they arrive at the 22 million number in the first place? I thought they'd calculate the assets of the company they punish so if they refused to pay they can just seize them. It is hard to believe they just take the raised ICO numbers as punishment as you mentioned above without considering anything else.

These events happen frequently because many tokens are securities under US law. Some companies are less affected by fines because they prevented US residents from buying tokens, or used licensed intermediaries who monitored it. Another question is what investors bought for: fiat or cryptocurrencies. One of the punishment options is the amount of sale of tokens (shares) on ICO plus interest and penalties. For most companies, this is bankruptcy.