A video from @craig-grant was suggested to me and I clicked on it and it is looking like he is going to have a developer basically take and make something similar to Proof Of Week Hands 3D which is a Ethereum smart contract "game." To be honest with you regardless of anything Craig has done in the past or present I don't think this is a good idea.
There is a reason why the Bitconnect creators and the Proof Of Week Hands creators are anonymous. Someone putting their name behind one of these structures and running some sort of exchange where people can trade ETH for some token that might be considered a game of chance. It is really hard to say what law regulator could attach to this stuff if they want to nail you. All it takes is once pencil neck who wants to further their career by locking someone up to take an interest in the situation.
They can essentially attach any law onto this type of thing. When they sent @charlieshrem to Club Fed they basically said he was operating a money services business without a license. Funny how other government agencies view it as property. Is it money, or property, or a commodity?
It is whatever someone wants it to be to fit their narrative for when they try to lock someone up in Club Fed.
Me and a friend were talking about a year ago about how we wouldn't be surprised if they bagged Vatalik Buterin up for selling an unlicensed security when Ethereum did their crowdsale. They will take all 85 pounds of him and throw him in a maximum security prison with people who are responsible for mass shootings.
Another Worry
What if some state or federal gaming commission decides to deem those type of smart contracts as gambling. There have been situations where people got in trouble for running sites where people could gamble with Bitcoin and other crypto. Again they can attach whatever laws they want to create whatever narrative they want.
The Flip Side
I used to not be so worried about things until I went to some Bitcoin Meetups and everyone was super paranoid. Honestly they were right to be paranoid because I guess Federal Agents were going to the Bitcoin Meetups in Phoenix to collect evidence against a Local Bitcoins Trader who went by the handle Morpheus. I don't know the circumstances with the case but there are agents out there.
All that being said sometimes I wonder about something like STEEM. We have the internal exchange to trade SBD to STEEM but we aren't required to submit a selfie and our license like Bittrex made me do. We don't have to do that on Binance either. Yes I know SBD is a debt against STEEM so a person could make the case that it is a derivative of the base currency STEEM. We could almost say the same thing about these Ethereum smart contracts as well. So if you are just exchanging those does a person need a money transmitters license? I don't know and no one else seems to either. It is anyone's best guess.
So what about all these ICOs that didn't block the United States IP Addresses? Are they going to get nailed for selling unlicensed securities? Maybe Steemit, INC is worried to launch the SMTs in fear that they will be forced us to take selfies and submit government issued IDs if they have an exchange where you can convert to all these SMTs. It is a plausible concern.
The issue to is that while the STEEM blockchain is decentralized that only goes so far if someone wants to further their career and then they can point at the Ninja mine launch and the fact that Steemit INC has so much STEEM Power and active work on the code in a centralized office with employees.
Conclusion
@craig-grant can do whatever he wants but I've seen enough in the crypto space to be increasingly paranoid. Probably half the people on this blockchain are acting anonymously and connecting through VPNs. They are blockchain ghosts because they are paranoid as well.
Personally I would be worried about doing any ICO or running any sort of exchange. Also I would be worried about being involved in anything that could be perceived as gambling. It seems like to do an ICO the safe thing is to block China and the United States for sure and it is best to use it as a distribution mechanism rather than a promise of future work. But that is just me. I guess I'm chicken. Crypto is a weird scene. Like today we are having a down day and Bitconnect is out performing the market. Their are still believers. Who would have known?
What do you guys think? Are you paranoid chickens like me?
Update: Craig must have decided that wasn't a good idea either and took the video down.
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