Second Report Spokesperson BitShares Blockchain Foundation on Bittrex Inc. and other regulatory issues

Date , January 11th 2018
By Annemieke Dirkes

Former reporting can be found at :
https://steemit.com/bitshares/@bitshares.fdn/report-spokesperson-bitshares-blockchain-foundation-on-bittrex-inc-and-other-regulatory-issues

General remarks

In a follow up on our report of December 2017, we will now report on subjects we mentioned then and some more.

“The future”

“The BitShares Blockchain Foundation will organize and maintain a website to be the one and only source of information for a potential owner of BTS and inform and educate all authorities and bodies involved.”

During the last few months, the BitShares Blockchain Foundation tried to have transferred the website that is most in known in the public, www.bitshares.org which also happens to be at the root of the information issues that contributed to the Bittrex issue to happen. At first, it looked like Stan Larimer (Cryptonomex Inc.) was willing to hand over the domain but he chooses not to and we can only respect that. After council, a more appropriate, non-commercial approach is chosen, so that we are going to use http://www.bitshares.foundation/. The foundation obtained that domain with the help of private sponsors. Constant care is taken we do not enter into anything that can be seen as commercial interest, because we will end up with the same questions and problems as others are facing on a large world-wide scale with regulators. Of course, the new Advisory Board can have close ties with what is planned.

“The action”

“After we make a plan and BBF executes it, we need a review and declaration from our own specialized legal counsel in the U.S. to confirm that we are compliant. We all know we are, we just need to improve drastically on the outward information.”

We have a written overview now that accurately describes what BTS and the BitShares Blockchain is, we need a legal opinion letter stating just this from our own legal counsel. This is a requirement Bittrex Inc. has stated. This enables Bittrex Inc to lift the freeze on the BTC:BTS trading pair, but it still is their company's decision. This opinion letter cannot come from just any firm - everyone understands that. We need persons specialized in this field who have recognition by their peers. We found the established firm Paul Hastings (https://www.paulhastings.com/) prepared to assist. Nicolas Morgan and David Hernand will take care of our interest. You can see their credentials on their site. As usual we will put an estimate and the work in a separate worker proposal, giving you all information, insight and options right away. The second step in it will be them asking the SEC for a so called “non -action letter” making sure we are in safe waters for years to come. That ends any discussion worldwide. Many ask that right now, but we feel we might have some facts that might help to shorten the process. At its root; what we expect to help us significantly is the foresight put on the table when BitShares was initially launched: Namely, there was no Initial Crowd-sale (ICO) and that there is clear statements on the no reward policy for simply holding BTS. Further details will be made clear in the worker proposal that will be put before you separately.

“The business on the BitShares Blockchain”

”New development is at full speed, both in the technical corner (as we witness every month) but also on the business side. Let us not forget it outperforms anything out there. That is slowly getting more and more attention.”

There is a lot of business going on right now in Europe and China that we are aware of in great detail. Business activities are increasing, in general. For instance, there is a tech meeting on January 21st in Shanghai, under the title “The future of Graphene Technology”. In Spring, there is a weekend organized in Shanghai and in the Autumn Europe is at its turn in Amsterdam. Dates will follow as soon as they are set. Cooperations between the BitShares Blockchain Foundation, businesses in Europe and China, major players in the BitShares space and the community are very good and positive.

At this point, we would like to again let everyone know the difference between two entities:

1. The BitShares Blockchain Foundation (BBF), that stands behind http://bitshares.foundation, offers open mailing lists, publishes press releases, keeps contact to exchanges and operates multiple workers for the community with highest transparency yet to be found a second time anywhere the entire crypto ecosystem.
2. The BitShares Foundation (BF), which is in existence even longer and offers what is called multsignatory contracts by means of Escrow, e.g. for an ICO, for parking funds before release, or for parking funds in a disputed situation to put the matter of available funds at rest. Since we take this job seriously, all interested parties are required to fill out an application form according to the standards of regulating authorities, and always indicate the ultimate beneficiary (real person) of any entity and identify by passport or ID. So KYC applies as nowadays is required. An agreement is then signed. Any process that the BitShares Foundation engages in has this legal base of an agreement with multiple rules to properly protect the interests of initial participants. In the case of an ICO or ITO, milestones must be reached to release any funds. The criteria that apply are laid down in the agreement.

Of course, both foundations are overseen by a chartered account CPA. This is now still a sponsored situation, but we will come to an agreement here.

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BitShares Blockchain Foundation
spokesperson@bitshares.foundation

BitShares Blockchain Foundation
Zutphenseweg 6
7418 AJ Deventer
The Netherlands
Registration: KvK-66190169
http://bitshares.foundation

Official Public Face and sole Spokesperson of the BitShares Blockchain {more}