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Initial Coin Offerings – An Alternative Funding Mechanism for Startups

September 20, 2017

Thank you to speaker James Gatto for presenting the Startup Committee's inaugural webinar on ICOs as mechanisms to fund startups.

Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) are a form of crowdfunding that leverage cryptocurrency as a mechanism to fund startups. Over $1 billion has been raised, yet this area is not yet highly regulated. The US SEC has issued preliminary guidance on ICOs and whether they are covered under the US securities laws. This webinar will provide an overview of ICOs and the legal issues that need to be considered with their use.

Speaker Bio:

Jim Co-heads Sheppard Mullin’s Blockchain Technology and Digital Currency team and has been involved with fintech and digital currencies for over 12 years.  Jim has advised numerous clients on issues ranging from patent and other IP issues, open source, regulatory issues, and legality of business models with blockchain applications.  He has a range of experience with many different types of currencies and blockchain technologies. Some of the applications that he has advised on relate to the use of blockchain for voting systems, trading platforms, EHR and other medical data information, smart contracts, DAO's, micro lending, ICOs and escrow systems. He has worked with a number of companies to file patents for these technologies.

Jim has worked with and advised startups, Fortune 100 companies, investors and non-profits such as the Bitcoin Foundation. He has authored numerous publications and blog posts  and is a frequent speaker on these topics, including at the World Bank and  Ohio State University, among many others. He is also the author of the  Lexis Practice Advisor on "Bitcoin Fundamentals."