A Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is an organization in which the traditional business management scheme is replaced by blockchain technology. While DAOs function like corporations in some ways, they replace board members with code and leave business decisions up to token-holders who exist as nodes along the blockchain. No single entity owns the DAO, and the organization’s day-to-day operations are executed via smart contracts. This note introduces readers to DAOs, provides insights into how major industry players and regulators are interacting with them, and speculates on how DAOs may influence the future of corporate law.
Read MoreBy late 2017, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) had risen to an unprecedented $19,843 per coin after trading below $1,000 just a year earlier. Though it has fallen well below those highs, Bitcoin’s value — and the value of other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum — has continued to remain much higher than anyone expected.
Where does this value come from? Among the many potential factors is supply and demand. Bitcoin, for example, is limited to a total of 21 million coins. By now, more than eighty percent of those have already been mined (Molly Jane Zuckerman, CoinTelegraph).
Read MoreIn Stoddard v. S&N Logging, Inc., No. 35038-0-III (Wash. Ct. App. Jan. 25, 2018), S&N Logging, Inc. (“S&N”) and Newman Logging, Inc. (collectively “Defendants”) moved for summary judgment against Roy B. Stoddard (“Plaintiff”) for failure to claim a remedy from the dissolution of a corporation within the time allowed by the statute of limitations. The Washington State Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment.
Read MoreBy Megan Herr & Thomas Dyer
Innovators have a tendency of identifying problems and subsequently creating a solution instead of the inverse. Great ideas do not make historic innovations; creative solutions to problems do. Cryptocurrency arose out of the identified problems contained in “traditional” fiat currencies. Transactions involving fiat currencies are often traceable by parties who should not otherwise have access to that information. Cryptocurrencies effectively address both of these problems, along with a handful of others through innovations including blind algorithms and the related blockchain technology.
Read MoreInitial coin offerings (ICOs), also sometimes called token sales, have exploded as the fastest growing segment of the world-wide capital markets. ICOs gained prominence in 2016 following a $160 million raise by an entity called “The DAO.” (Connie Loizos, TechCrunch) ICO fundraises grew from an estimated $263 million in 2016 to north of $5 billion in 2017. (Oscar Williams-Grut, Business Insider) The trend has continued in 2018, with an estimated $9.5 billion raised through the first five months of the year. (Coinschedule; see also Katie Rooney, CNBC) Despite this growth, there is still considerable legal uncertainty as to the status of ICOs and whether they are subject to regulation as securities in the United States.
Read MoreIn Cohen v. Kitov Pharmaceutical Holdings, Ltd., No. 17 Civ. 0917 (LGS), 2018 BL 94656 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 20, 2018), the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied in part and granted in part a motion to dismiss a putative class-action suit against Kitov Pharmaceutical Holdings, Ltd. (“Kitov”), CEO Isaac Israel, and CFO Simcha Rock (collectively “Defendants”) brought by lead plaintiffs Rotem Cohen and Jason Bruening (collectively “Plaintiffs”). The complaint alleged violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Act”). The court denied the motion to dismiss with regard to defendants Kitov and Israel but granted the motion to dismiss concerning defendant Rock.
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