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Interesting discussion of the legalities. They say they're not doing the sale until they have a fully functioning platform that relies on tokens to function.

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But that's putting the cart before the horse. You need the ICO to get enough investment to build out your platform, when you have a fully functioning platform, who still needs investment?

And if a platform is a prerequisite: Just build the barest possible platform MVP, much like a pre-launch landing page.

His point is that token sales aren't investments in the sense that you are talking about because that would, in his words, be securities fraud.

The token is a "currency" that people are buying into through some exchange rate to participate in a market with token denominated currency.

When you have $250,000,000 with no clear nor enforceable legal obligation to the people who gave it to you, who still needs a fully functioning platform?

Hopefully ethics will prompt most founders to make a good-faith attempt to deliver value for money, but in case anyone is tempted otherwise, bear in mind that the legal obligation may turn out to look much more clear and enforceable in court than it does on HN.

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