SEC Is 'Out to Damage or Destroy' Crypto Industry in America: LBRY CEO LBRY CEO Jeremy Ka

SEC Is 'Out to Damage or Destroy' Crypto Industry in America: LBRY CEO

LBRY CEO Jeremy Kauffman called out the Securities and Exchange Commission at Messari’s Mainnet conference in New York this week, as the decentralized file-sharing network continues to navigate legal action from the regulator.

The SEC charged LBRY with selling unregistered securities in March of last year. The Commission alleged that the company raised $11 million through the sale of LBRY Credits, tokens that are used to upload files and make payments on the blockchain-based platform, before the LBRY network was built. The company disputes this claim and says no tokens were sold before the network was fully functional.

The SEC nevertheless viewed LBRY Credits as investment contracts, based on the notion that buyers believed they would reap profit from purchasing the tokens. Kauffman said the company has been “fighting the SEC for coming up on five years" and soon expects a federal judge to weigh in with a ruling on whether a full trial is necessary. The verdict will have far-reaching implications for other companies as well, according to him, setting some level of precedent for companies that have raised money for their projects through an initial coin offering or ICO.

“The facts in this case would basically apply to every company in this room,” Kauffman said. “The SEC has very much demonstrated that they are out to damage or destroy the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.”

Kauffman is currently on the ballot in New Hampshire, representing the Libertarian Party in a bid to be one of New Hampshire’s next U.S. senators. Kauffman believes that his file-sharing platform and libertarian ideology are somewhat aligned, in regards to how some feel about politics and social media. “People are tired," he declared, "of having these bureaucrats, these middlemen, making these decisions for them.”

Source: Decrypt

(https://decrypt.co/110468/sec-out-to-damage-or-destroy-crypto-industry-lbry-ceo)