- Instructor: Gilbert Ng & Henry Yu
- Duration: 3 hours
Date: 31 August 2022 (Wednesday) Time: 2:30pm – 5:45pm Language: English Level: Intermediate
Speaker: Henry Yu, Principal Partner, L&Y Law Office in association with Henry Yu & Associates & Gilbert Ng, Partner at Mulana Ventures
Lawyer CPD / ACCA CPD / SFC CPT / Insurers’ CPD Pts: 3 points Fee: HK$1,790
Highlight: Financial technology or as commonly referred to in the commons as “Fintech” is changing various aspects of the traditional finance and has the potential to radically overhaul the centuries old fundamentals that have underpinned the financial services industry. We are now seeing great disruptions being made in banking, capital markets, corporate finance and consumer finance in which Fintech implementations are bringing in great efficiency, transparency, convenience, cost reductions and access to financial services.
One key aspect of this financial revolution are cryptocurrencies and in particular their ability to facilitate a novel means of project fund raising, commonly referred to as ‘Token Sales’ or ‘Initial Coin Offerings’ (ICO for short), where companies are able to raise funds for various projects by offering to tokens to interested parties.
As of the 20 June 2018 the cryptocurrency market economy cap has reached US$282,769,000,000 (Coinmarketcap, 2018), with an all-time high standing at US$819,987,000,000 (on 8 January 2018) (Coinmarketcap, 2018). To date just over US$13.89 Billion (Coindesk, 2018) was raised in ICOs.
With many ICO raising on average US$24.30 Million (in 2018, Coindesk) such magnitude of funds has cause regulatory authorities in various jurisdictions to take actions whether appropriate to root out fraud or to warn and educate the investing public about the risks and dangerous of investing in ICOs. The most noteworthy regulatory agency that has committed extensive efforts into scrutinizing ICOs is the United States Securities and Exchanges Commissions which has: prosecuted ICO frauds, ordered the unwinding of a potentially illegal ICOs, and run a novel investor education campaign by creating a spoof ICO called ‘ HoweyCoin’.
Hong Kong is becoming a strong ICO hub due to the city’s reputable and robust business culture, legal and regulatory system, favorable tax regime, accessible corporate services industry and proximity with China. As more ICO project use Hong Kong as their ‘base of operations’ it is essential for professional advisors to competently assist them in navigate the sale from inception to token issuance and post ICO legal and regulatory issue they may face. In this seminary you will explore:
- To understand the essential elements that compose an ICO campaign and how to work with the project team to create a solid project offering.
- To identify the most prominent legal and regulatory challenges that ICO projects encounter and how to advise on the navigations through such challenges.
- On how to work with issues arising in foreign jurisdiction and strategies on creating efficient synergy with foreign lawyers advising the ICO campaign. With special attention on comparative issues between US and Hong Kong legal doctrines concerning ICOs.
- On how to implement strong corporate governance culture and advise clients on the best market practices in the industry.
