Marco Santori, formerly a Partner at Cooley, LLP and author of the controversial SAFT or Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, has joined Blockchain as President and Chief Legal Officer. In the past, Santori has been labeled “the Dean of Digital Currency Lawyers” by some and he has become a prominent advocate of the digital asset revolution.
The news comes as a bit of a surprise to many as Santori was one of a select group of legal proponents supporting the initial coin offering (ICO) space.
Blockchain, an early entrant in the crypto space and is a leading software platform to buy, trade, or hold digital assets. The change in roles may not seem like an obvious transition for Santori who has become a prominent spokesperson for the entire crypto industry.
In a blog post, Blockchain welcomed Santori saying they were “thrilled” to have him join the company bringing his “impressive legal background and has a roster of world-class clients.”
“Marco has a breadth and depth of knowledge that is unmatched and I couldn’t think of a better person to focus entirely on our expansion efforts and strategy as we continue to serve our millions of users globally,” commented Peter Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Blockchain.
Santori said he was honored to join the company calling it a compelling opportunity.
So the bigger question – is this the full story?
The aforementioned SAFT structure as described by Santori was quickly utilized by many ICOs globally. But since that time, it has lost some of its luster as other industry participants challenged the structure. As regulators around the world have started to scrutinize tokens further, and whether utility tokens actually exist, many token offerings have adjusted their strategy in issuing digital currency. The Cardozo Blockchain Project, an initiative from Cardozo Law School published last November, challenged some of the aspects of the Santori SAFT’s assertions.
Regardless, as any new industry evolves, especially one that is highly regulated like the financial services sectors, there will be bumps along the road.
With the SEC and CFTC revving up their enforcement engines, new initial coin offerings are now being more careful in their legal liabilities.
