LAB Radio

In today's episodes, we are going to explore some of the complexities of a Security vs. Utility token which are fresh on our minds after the recent SEC announcement about Ether and Bitcoin not being considered securities.

William Hinman, the SEC's Director of Corporate Finance made the announcement:

“Strictly speaking the token, the coin, whatever the digital information packet is being called all by itself, we don’t think is a security. Just as oranges in the Howey case were not securities. Essential to determining whether a security is being offered, however, is how it’s being sold and a reasonable expectation of purchasers.

When someone buys a housing unit to live in it’s probably not a security but under certain circumstances, the same asset could be offered and sold in a way that could cause investors to have a reasonable expectation of profits based on the efforts of others.

If the housing unit is offered with a management contract or other services where purchases are encouraged to invest rather than reside, it could be a security. Case law tells us that,” Hinman explained during his speech.

Securities are the talk of the regulator town and perhaps less so in the Cryptosphere's now that we have a solidified answer. However, many other projects have uncertain futures as to their designation which may bring pause to would be Blockchain empire builders.

The Street, a finance-focused media outlet, defines securities as follows:

"A simple definition of a security is any proof of ownership or debt that has been assigned a value and may be sold. (Today, evidence of ownership is likely to be a computer file, while once it was a written piece of paper.) For the holder, a security represents an investment as an owner, creditor or rights to ownership on which the person hopes to gain profit. Examples are stocks, bonds and options.

The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 provides this more complicated definition, but you might want to grab a cup of coffee: "The term 'security' means any note, stock, treasury stock, bond, debenture, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement or in any oil, gas, or other mineral royalty or lease, any collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit, for a security, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities..."

To help us demystify this fascinating (yet complex) situation of Securities vs. Utility tokens we brought in Joe Ciccolo, an expert in building BSA/AML programs as well as over 10 years of banking compliance.

Joe founded BitAML, a regulatory compliance advisory group, to help Blockchain startups and innovators to remain above board in a rapidly shifting (and uncertain) regulatory landscape.

For show notes and more visit: LAB Radio

David Bleznak is the founder and CEO of Totle, a Cryptocurrency Portfolio Manager and Decentralized Exchange (DEX) aggregator. David grew up in Michigan with a background in real estate and business management.

Totle searches for the best prices across a variety of exchanges and executes on your behalf

Totle is a DEX Aggregator that pools the liquidity of the top ERC-20 token decentralized exchanges (DEX) by finding and executing a buy or sell at the best price in real time.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• David's background and how he got started
• What a CEX is and how do they work
• How CEXs maintain custody of funds AND price feeds
• How this is a conflict of interest for CEXs and why
• What a DEX is and how it differs from a CEX
• What Totle does compare to IDEX or Ether Delta
• Why they built on Ethereum (ERC-20 supported)
• David's insights and takeaways about Blockchain and DEX technology

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Kelley Weaver is a young entrepreneur and founder of Melrose PR, a leading crypto and blockchain public relations and content marketing agency based in Los Angeles, California.

Kelley has been featured and quoted by the LA Times, Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, Inc, LA Business Journal, Business Rockstars, and many more.

Kelley routinely writes thought leadership pieces about blockchain for Forbes and The Huffington Post. She is the host of Crypto Token Talk, a podcast for those looking to enter the new frontier of blockchain technology and learn "Crypto 101" from leading industry experts, launching in January 2018.

It serves as an entertaining on-ramp and newbie-friendly gateway to learning resources related to the world of cryptocurrency.

My @cryptotokentalk podcast interview with the legendary @TimDraper is live https://t.co/SvBB8LFe9S - learn why he believes $bitcoin is the future! Huge thanks Tim @drapervc for your wealth of insight & knowledge. #cryptotokentalk #TimDraper #askCryptoKelley #blockchain #crypto pic.twitter.com/HDRYLyijFB

— Kelley Weaver (@cryptokelley) February 24, 2018

Melrose PR is a public relations & creative marketing agency focused on technological and storytelling innovation for the blockchain technology and crypto (digital asset) industries.

Melrose PR feels a responsibility to take leadership, silence the skeptics, and ensure that the message is strong and clear – blockchain is the future of technology, business, and the world. We work with enterprise-level solution providers as well as blockchain startups, helping them craft cohesive messaging and generating awareness through top-tier media placements.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Kelley's International background and path to entrepreneurship and eventually into the Blockchain space
• How Kelley is a Shark Tank Alumni from her invention, Pursecase
• What it's like to work with Lori Greiner from Shark Tank
• Why she created Melrose PR and the value provided to clients
• How the process works to get media coverage
• Best practices ICOs and other projects can keep in mind when pitching to the news media
• About Kelley's show Crypto Token Talk
• Insights and takeaways gained to date from Blockchain technology

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

"A high energy, creative and resourceful problem solver who enjoys working in teams and engaging with other individuals. A quick learner with demonstrated initiative and strong analytical skills." ~CJ Smith, co-founder of CryptoBlockCon

CJ previously worked as a business analyst and digital marketing professional. Now he's an Entrepreneur, event organizer and co-founder of CryptoBlockCon, a global Blockchain conference series.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Where CJ is from and how he got started
• How CJ got into event management and then the Blockchain niche
• Things CJ likes and dislikes about different events and how he improves on that
• Examples of what a good event looks like
• What Blockchain projects and use cases CJ is most excited about

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

"Faruk Okcetin is an experienced business professional and lifelong entrepreneur. He has been actively involved in a wide range of businesses, including Real-Estate, Mortgage Finance, Restaurants, Technology, BlockChain, Medical Devices, and Biometrics. Faruk takes pride in taking ideas and implementing strategies to bring them to fruition. Having been an investor and part of a number of start-ups, he truly relishes in building a strong brand awareness, and applying the correct marketing and sales efforts in order to achieve optimum success."

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• About Faruks business background and how he discovered Blockchain
• Opportunities he sees for non-technical business people in the Blockchain industry
• How Faruk had an "aha" moment about his role in the space and how he came to that realization
• What the Cryptolina is and what the event is all about
• Why they believe in promoting other conferences and leaders in the space and region
• Why it's important to help others find legitimate opportunities and obtain the tools and resources to be educated
• How real estate and underwriting are a big untapped opportunity of the Blockchain

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

"After writing an M.A. thesis on the use of blockchain technology in the art ecosystem and working at Sotheby's helping collectors to bid at auction, I co-founded Codex Protocol, a decentralised title registry for art and collectibles. I previously spent six years in the finance industry. Sailing enthusiast and collector of old maps."

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• How Jess initially got into the Blockchain
• The connection Jess saw between Blockchain and the art world
• How that led Jess into the academic world and ultimately publishing a thesis paper
• How there was a perfect storm for Jess to combine her non-technical business and investment skillsets to create the Codex protocol
• How Jess was really excited by the creativity and diversity of the Blockchain scene
• Some tips on how to pick A players and manage a remote team across the world
• How they use all hands meetings three times a week to keep people and incentives aligned
• Why team building is such an important building block for success
• About how art is a $2 trillion dollar asset class
• How the Codex protocol works and helps tokenize art and collectables

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Kirk Phillips, CPA, CMA, CFE, DCC is an entrepreneur, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) passionate about technology and the possibilities for bitcoin to disrupt, decentralize and bring transparency into the business world.

He is the author of the The Ultimate Bitcoin Business Guide, an inspirational business-focused Bitcoin book for entrepreneurs and small businesses. He weaves risk management into business process outsourcing, crypto business consulting and education.

Ultimately, Kirk helps remove the frustrations of managing paper, accounting and other administrative processes every organization and individual must face. He also helps educate and guide people through his courses and books.

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Munair is a Wharton graduate, information technologist, engineer, entrepreneur, fitness model, Capoeira teacher, aspiring yogi and marketing strategist presently focused on cryptocurrency ventures. He also contributes regularly to CoinCentral, a Cryptocurrency news website.

We discuss South Korea, Fluidity, Ethereal, Consensus, and our Adventures at Blockchain week.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Munair's story and background growing up in the Carribean and US before eventually moving to South Korea
• How he got in to the Blockchain space
• An inside look at the community and scene in South Korea
• A recap of Fluidity, Ethereal and Consensus for Blockchain week NYC 2018

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Tim Francisco has a background in B2B enterprise sales of hardware and software. He has worked at such companies as Dell, EMC, Cisco as well as the AI and deep neural network industry.

Now Tim is helping build the Blockchain economy by providing consulting and introducing companies to platforms, services and other valuable information needed to BUIDL.

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• Tim's story and background growing up in Socal
• How he was working at Cisco when the Internet as we know it didn't exist
• An inside look at working in the early tech industry (pre-Google and Amazon)
• The state of technology and the industry at that time
• How many of the attitudes and patterns with people played out already in the Dotcom era
• How the parties were back in the early Dotcom days (with Lambos too)
• How were are in a software revolution and why we're excited to BUIDL
• Tims bump into Vinny Lingham and their beer vending machine using Civic
• How Tim bumped into some who's who like the creator of Siacoin and CTO of Zencash
• How we got to hit after parties attended by OGs like Charlie Lee, Fluffy Pony and Erik Voorhees
• About Tim's rim to rim canyon run in the Grand Canyon

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio

Brian Deery is the Chief Scientist at Factom, a platform that stores the world's data on a decentralized system. Using Blockchain technology Factom facilitates smart contracts, digital assets and database integrity.

Brian is an early innovator in technology. He built a self-driving Lotus Elise which competed in the 2007 DARPA Urban Grand Challenge. The race competition included a precursor to Google's driverless car.

Previously, he served as an R&D Engineer at Pentair, Ltd where he designed and brought to market an underwater energy harvesting device. Earlier, he managed the quality control robots certifying ~$30M of yearly production at MTS Systems Corporation."

After listening to this episode you will learn:

• The story behind how Brian got on the Blockchain path
• How Brian identified the connection between computers and money
• About how Brian won a Federal Reserve sponsored hack-a-thon
• How Brian first met Paul Snow of Factom (then named Notary Chain)
• Brian's view of Blockchains and its purpose
• What scares Brian about the future of Blockchain development

For show notes and more please visit: LAB Radio