Crypto-Investor Day: New Strategies for Security Tokenization

Crypto Investor Day: Intro

Crypto Investor day was held on November 16, 2018, at the Fairmont San Francisco Hotel in San Francisco, CA. Advanced and experienced startups had the chance to present their ideas to investors, who were able to receive additional opportunities in the crypto and blockchain community. Blockchain and financial experts hosted the event and outlined the main trends and issues related to blockchain technology, cryptocurrency investment, and legal compliance.

Crypto Investor day was a great chance to meet leading crypto-fund managers who considered the most promising and reliable projects for investment.

The panel discussion included the following questions:

• How do you make money in crypto?
• What should you know before investing in cryptocurrencies?
• What are security tokens, and why are they game changers?
• What should we know about token economics, exchanges, market cycles, Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.
• Speculators vs. buy and hold
• What is the current legal and regulatory framework in the U.S.?
• What international hubs do our panelists prefer?
• What are the issues and opportunities under current and expected regulations?
• What are the metrics you need to know in order to start and run a fund?
• What is the difference between a security token and a utility token?
• How do you move money globally?
• Tax, compliance, and custody issues

One of the most important issues to discuss at Crypto Investor Day was the latest security technologies to protect investments. Blockchain and its applications are rapidly developing and markets can be made or lost as a result of additional technological changes and/or new ones on the horizon. These are major shifts in cost reduction, processing speed, and scaling speed on the blockchain.

All of the above-mentioned questions were discussed to help investors understand how to choose a reliable ICO project and protect their funds.

What Conclusions Were Made at Crypto Investor Day?

The goal of this event was to bring conventional investors into the world of blockchain technology. Investors are hugely interested in the blockchain, but a range of “blockers” are not allowing them to become involved in it completely.

Ivan Novosiolov, CMO at Applicature, was one of the speakers at the Crypto Investor Day. He expressed the following opinions and conclusions: “We gathered together at Crypto Investor Day to identify how we can remove obstacles that are not allowing investors to enter the blockchain market. We needed to help them understand more deeply how blockchain projects work. In addition, we discussed how to gather information for various ICOs and STOs on what investors are expecting from them.

“We came to a clear understanding that the market has matured enough. Investors are interested in the technology of blockchain and want to be a part of it, just as they wanted to participate in the artificial intelligence market. However, blockchain confused investors, as there were many scam projects that showed how unreliable ICO investments are. That is why today, most ICOs prefer to go public with a security token, not a utility. ICOs are now also spending more time and money for the layer.”

Investors want to see proof of market adoption of a product. This means that any product they are willing to invest in needs to have a rationale for blockchain utilization and bring real value. They are also interested in investing in projects that have a proof of concept, MVP, and, even satisfied users of their product.

For now, ICO projects can attract investment not just with really huge marketing campaigns, but also by presenting the investor’s role as a productive client. This was the most important conclusion drawn from the event.

What About the Decline in the Cryptocurrency Market?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is monitoring the market severely. Obviously, investors don’t want to risk their money. It is very important for them that the token they are buying is actually a security token. A utility token is now not recommended for investment since the SEC made all ICOs that were selling utility tokens return the money to the clients. This is one of the reasons the ICO market is declining now.

One of the reasons for the decline is that this particular market is covered in distrust and disloyalty. Investors are afraid of losing their money because of scams or incorrect regulation. These fears affect both the financial and legal sides of the market.

Ivan Novosiolov also shared his thoughts regarding the recent cryptocurrency market decline: “When the SEC provided its definition for all tokens determining them as security tokens, it penalized several ICOs. In addition, crypto funds were classified as investment funds, and they simply ‘dumped’ all the money in order to avoid fees. Most of these funds had huge investors on board, and clearly, the ‘dump’ resulted in distrust. This was another reason for the market decrease.”

The hot question now is: when the market will rise up? “It definitely will, but perhaps it will take some time to revive. Blockchain and cryptocurrencies came into our world sharply, and are not going anywhere now,” added Ivan.