Canadian Securities Regulators Publish Further Guidance On Token Offerings

On June 11, 2018, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) published a further Staff Notice [PDF] regarding the securities law implications of initial coin offerings and initial token offerings (generally referred to by the CSA as token offerings). This guidance amplifies previous warnings by Canadian securities regulators that most token offerings are subject to Canadian securities laws and that regulators will continue to take enforcement action against projects and businesses that engage in token offerings without complying with applicable securities laws.

Key takeaways

• The Staff Notice sends a clear signal that Canadian securities regulators are monitoring the crypto-asset space very closely and understand commonly used token offering models, including structures that may have been adopted to minimize the application of Canadian securities laws. In particular, by explicitly addressing offerings via Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFTs), through air