Get the weekly summary of crypto market analysis, news, and forecasts! This Week’s Summary The crypto market ends the week at a total market capitalization of $2,17 trillion. Bitcoin continues to trade at around $62,300. Ethereum experiences no changes and stagnates at around $2,400. XRP is down by 2%, Solana by 1%, and Dogecoin by 3%. Almost all altcoins are trading in the red, with very few exceptions. The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around…
Security Tokens vs. Utility Tokens – A Beginner’s Guide
Blockchain, the pinnacle of decentralized, distributed, and transparent technology, is at its base a Platform. What is a Platform, you ask? A technological sense platform is a nurturing ground for growing and building applications that serve various purposes.
Being a platform, blockchain can be used for a variety of purposes. Moreover, with a general-purpose technology like blockchain, there is no limit to what innovations can be made.
One such variety in blockchain projects today is the distinction in their native tokens. A token is a cryptographically linked piece of value issued by the project members. A token can be anything from a medium of exchange to a part of a share in the project.
A token is a utility, an asset, or a unit of value issued by a company. In most cases, tokens are issued when a company launches an ICO/IEO/STO or any other token sale — that works more or less like an initial public offering (IPO). Over the years, the market has evolved several types of tokenized digital assets, each with its properties.
The significant classifications that we see today are Security tokens and Utility tokens.
Security Tokens
Security tokens derive value from an external, tradable asset, such as stocks or real estate. For example, if you buy a tokenized stock version, you will acquire the same rights you would get when you purchase stock via a traditional stockbroker – profit share and voting rights. The only difference is that a token comes in digital form.
The significant distinction between utility tokens is that security tokens are designed to be investments. Thus, they fall under the same regulatory oversight as other investment products. Nevertheless, they are considered by many to be the key to cryptocurrencies achieving mainstream adoption due to their focus on tokenizing digital and non-digital assets, making them useful for almost any industry or application.
A security token is essentially an investment contract representing legal ownership (as recognized by the SEC) of a physical or digital asset (like real estate, artwork, or ETFs) that has been verified on the blockchain. Security Token Offerings, more commonly known as STOs, have gained significant interest over the past year. They mirror many qualities of the traditional stock market with the added advantage of being issued on a blockchain.
Important Characteristics
A Security Token, i.e., a token with attached rights and responsibilities, can have all of the following characteristics,
- Access to multiple asset classes
- Access to liquidity for traditionally illiquid assets
- Access to a global network of investors
- Dividend payouts
Major Security Tokens
- Securrency, Swarm, tZero, Polymath
Utility Tokens
A utility token has a broader functionality than a regular token like Dogecoin. Utility tokens do have value, but they cannot be considered money as straightforward as a coin. Utility tokens can provide value to investors in different ways. They give users access to a future product or service. Utility tokens are currently the most popular form of tokens.
Utility tokens were quickly the most popular token issuance mechanism adopted during the 2017 ICO boom and later. The primary reason was that utility tokens allowed projects to crowdfund their ideas without diluting the projects’ ownership. However, according to SEC Director of Corporation Finance William Hinman, a valid “utility token” in the sense that many crypto investors seem to have in mind is probably best represented by Bitcoin itself: as he said at the Yahoo Finance All Markets Summit.
Important Characteristics
- An incentive-based tool to drive human behavior in any network
- Usually do not carry ownership or membership rights.
- Used as part of the vast ecosystem
- It can be used as an alternative for mediums of exchange
- Can help in the evolution of internal network-based markets
Major Utility Tokens
- Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Sirin Labs
Conclusion
There isn’t a clear-cut set of guidelines for what means what. In this nascent and evolving market, regulations and policies are of the utmost importance because we do not know how to treat these different assets. Many experts like to point to the Howey Test (a set of sufficient conditions required for a given asset to be considered security), which sets guidelines for classifying an asset as a security. Still, the criticisms remain that it is an old guideline explicitly made for traditional assets such as stocks, real estate, etc.
For now, we can only use the traditional rules to make new classifications, as we have done above. But as new market strategies are developed, we will see better sets of rules to make better decisions.
As a side note, remember that Blockchain technology’s general purpose does not limit it to any form of innovation. We can see more varieties of tokenized assets in the future, some in a hybrid format, some issuing different types of tokens under one roof, and even coming packaged in a way never before seen.
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