Prospectus for BlockTrades public offering

[dannotestein]

We're doing well, busy on a lot of projects. As I've made more money, I've grown increasingly altruistic, however, and I think we've made enough to plan the project I'm truly passionate about nowadays (a web of trust based system), so I'm less sure about doing an IPO for BlockTrades nowadays, unless it turns out that development costs for the project are more than expected.

[BitsharesLabs]

This topic just came to light on a spam post. With Cryptobridge gone and Openledger's recent notice of suspension, how's Blocktrades doing Dan?

[dannotestein]

How's this project going? 

IPO is still in the works, but we keep getting distracted by other projects/tasks with tight deadlines. We're looking to hire 3 or 4 more programmers soon to help handle the workload.

Do you still work on the public offering?

Yes, but we're still planning to do it this year, but it's been delayed a bit by our work on Peerplays, OpenLedger gateways, and Steemit. We're hiring more people to handle the load, picked up two new guys so far, still looking to hire 2 more.

[mxo8]

How's this project going? 

IPO is still in the works, but we keep getting distracted by other projects/tasks with tight deadlines. We're looking to hire 3 or 4 more programmers soon to help handle the workload.

Do you still work on the public offering?

[dannotestein]

How's this project going? 

IPO is still in the works, but we keep getting distracted by other projects/tasks with tight deadlines. We're looking to hire 3 or 4 more programmers soon to help handle the workload.

[unreadPostsSinceLastVisit]

we should make a smartcoin pegged to the value of blocktrades stock.

[CLains]

How's this project going? 

[dannotestein]

If this is an actual stock share then am I right that this will be the first actual (legal) company share issued on the blockchain open to retail investors? I know others have done it like Overstock but they weren't available for the likes of me to buy. Maybe there are others I've missed but I can't think of any.

As far as I'm aware, these would be the first actual legal shares issued on the BitShares blockchain, but it's possible it's been done on another blockchain. It would be kind of cool if it turns out these are the first ever, though, would be a nice press release if so.

[profitofthegods]

i would be more interested in your monthly revenue streams and how they are splitted.

where comes the increase in the asset value? only from revenue streams?

do you plan to pay dividends?

These are normal stock shares, not some form of derivative with a complex valuation, so I think it's simple to understand how they appreciate in value.

So you will be getting money from some kind of central bank, either directly or via its subsidiaries, whilst everyone pretends that your share price has some kind of connection to the value of the company when in actual fact it really doesn't?

Joking, kind of.

Its funny, but everyone is calling scam all the time in the crypto world yet when I look at this the whole idea that a company's shares are supposed to magically track the value of the company without some kind of mechanism to enforce it looks like such a scam after being in crypto - but yet that is exactly how the stock market works! Amazing! I think I've been spoiled by crypto-investments, but you look like a great company anyway and I'm lucky enough to be in the UK where the main financial rule seem to be that if you're doing something dodgy you base it in one of the colonies (yes Cayman Islands, I'm talking to you) so I'll probably want to buy some of your shares.

If this is an actual stock share then am I right that this will be the first actual (legal) company share issued on the blockchain open to retail investors? I know others have done it like Overstock but they weren't available for the likes of me to buy. Maybe there are others I've missed but I can't think of any.

[openledger]

i am confused. on the obits.io website they state, that 0.2% or 100% of their tradingfees are going into buybacks, but with your statement this would put obits only to 50% or do i understand something wrong?

I've never read that info before, but I guess the info there should at least be clarified. Strictly speaking, in the section about trading fees, I guess it says 100% of the profits of OL for trading fees, which is 50% of the total trading fees. I am sure Ronny has publicly disclosed the 50/50 split with us several times in the past. It should also be noted I think that if Ronny didn't have BlockTrades doing this, he would have to pay someone to manage it, and those costs would come out of the profit from the trading fees anyways.

But I agree this page should probably be clarified to indicate there is a split of the trading fee revenue 50/50 between OL and BlockTrades acting as a gateway service provider. Please note that this split only applies to trading fees, BlockTrades does not participate in revenue sharing for other profit areas from OL (e.g. registration fees and other fees collected by OL).

It will be changed monday, dont know why it has not been updated that part, as should have been of course, no matter what information has already been mentioned in various forums of the split.

the 50/50 is on the crypto gateway, fiat trading fees of USD, EUR and CNY are added to OBITS revenue stream in full as well as the trading fees of OBITS, BTSR, OPENPOS, DISRUPTDAILY and more to come.

[cylonmaker2053]

i would be more interested in your monthly revenue streams and how they are splitted.

where comes the increase in the asset value? only from revenue streams?

do you plan to pay dividends?

These are normal stock shares, not some form of derivative with a complex valuation, so I think it's simple to understand how they appreciate in value. Their value will track the value of the company just like any company's shares. When the company is profitable, the value of the shares will tend to go up. Like any other company, based on the desires of the shareholders, we will be able to distribute dividends. Obviously we would do that via the blockchain for simplicity. It is certainly my plan to have the company issue dividends, as the company has a strong cash flow.

Do you guys intend to obtain an independent audit of your financial statements? Something like that could have excellent ROI for you with expansion of valuation multiple with enhanced confidence.

It could be a good idea, as long as it's not too expensive. One problem with most "independent audits" is that I think they just look over the books provided to them by a company, and those tend be just be "rubber-stamped" by the auditors. Hence we have situations like Enron, all AAA valuations of CDOs, etc.

In general, I'm not a big fan of wasting money unnecessarily on accountants and lawyers. I took over accounting for SynaptiCAD years ago, as I found as was able to do a better job than the accountants we employed (partly because I was more motivated and also because I understood the business better and could do more "pro-active" tax planning). Similarly, Donna handles all our legal issues. Donna got her law degree many years ago after we paid about $100K to lawyers to defend SynaptiCAD against a patent infringement lawsuit back in 1995. Nowadays, she tracks the law associated with patents, IP, and cryptocurrency.

I suspect the best thing for adding confidence to our financial statements would be some kind of certification of our current holdings in cryptocurrency, since we're using mark-to-market accounting for our primary assets right now. There's various ways we can do that, just not sure yet which is best. One simple way is I could show our wallet balances to someone trusted by the community (our bitshares wallet balance is visible, of course, but our bitcoin one isn't) and they could serve as an independent auditor. Alternatively, i could publish some public BTC address and move funds into that address temporarily I guess.

yeah, it's all about certification, confidence, and reducing potential agency issues between you guys as owner-managers and outside investors. Whether an independent audit provides any real information value (I agree re: tendency to rubber stamp), it's at least some measure of openness and third-party verification. I think these kinds of things pay for themselves in subsequent market valuation.

[dannotestein]

i would be more interested in your monthly revenue streams and how they are splitted.

where comes the increase in the asset value? only from revenue streams?

do you plan to pay dividends?

These are normal stock shares, not some form of derivative with a complex valuation, so I think it's simple to understand how they appreciate in value. Their value will track the value of the company just like any company's shares. When the company is profitable, the value of the shares will tend to go up. Like any other company, based on the desires of the shareholders, we will be able to distribute dividends. Obviously we would do that via the blockchain for simplicity. It is certainly my plan to have the company issue dividends, as the company has a strong cash flow.

Do you guys intend to obtain an independent audit of your financial statements? Something like that could have excellent ROI for you with expansion of valuation multiple with enhanced confidence.

It could be a good idea, as long as it's not too expensive. One problem with most "independent audits" is that I think they just look over the books provided to them by a company, and those tend be just be "rubber-stamped" by the auditors. Hence we have situations like Enron, all AAA valuations of CDOs, etc.

In general, I'm not a big fan of wasting money unnecessarily on accountants and lawyers. I took over accounting for SynaptiCAD years ago, as I found as was able to do a better job than the accountants we employed (partly because I was more motivated and also because I understood the business better and could do more "pro-active" tax planning). Similarly, Donna handles all our legal issues. Donna got her law degree many years ago after we paid about $100K to lawyers to defend SynaptiCAD against a patent infringement lawsuit back in 1995. Nowadays, she tracks the law associated with patents, IP, and cryptocurrency.

I suspect the best thing for adding confidence to our financial statements would be some kind of certification of our current holdings in cryptocurrency, since we're using mark-to-market accounting for our primary assets right now. There's various ways we can do that, just not sure yet which is best. One simple way is I could show our wallet balances to someone trusted by the community (our bitshares wallet balance is visible, of course, but our bitcoin one isn't) and they could serve as an independent auditor. Alternatively, i could publish some public BTC address and move funds into that address temporarily I guess.

[cylonmaker2053]

i would be more interested in your monthly revenue streams and how they are splitted.

where comes the increase in the asset value? only from revenue streams?

do you plan to pay dividends?

These are normal stock shares, not some form of derivative with a complex valuation, so I think it's simple to understand how they appreciate in value. Their value will track the value of the company just like any company's shares. When the company is profitable, the value of the shares will tend to go up. Like any other company, based on the desires of the shareholders, we will be able to distribute dividends. Obviously we would do that via the blockchain for simplicity. It is certainly my plan to have the company issue dividends, as the company has a strong cash flow.

Do you guys intend to obtain an independent audit of your financial statements? Something like that could have excellent ROI for you with expansion of valuation multiple with enhanced confidence.

[dannotestein]

i would be more interested in your monthly revenue streams and how they are splitted.

where comes the increase in the asset value? only from revenue streams?

do you plan to pay dividends?

These are normal stock shares, not some form of derivative with a complex valuation, so I think it's simple to understand how they appreciate in value. Their value will track the value of the company just like any company's shares. When the company is profitable, the value of the shares will tend to go up. Like any other company, based on the desires of the shareholders, we will be able to distribute dividends. Obviously we would do that via the blockchain for simplicity. It is certainly my plan to have the company issue dividends, as the company has a strong cash flow.

[Shentist]

i am confused. on the obits.io website they state, that 0.2% or 100% of their tradingfees are going into buybacks, but with your statement this would put obits only to 50% or do i understand something wrong?

I've never read that info before, but I guess the info there should at least be clarified. Strictly speaking, in the section about trading fees, I guess it says 100% of the profits of OL for trading fees, which is 50% of the total trading fees. I am sure Ronny has publicly disclosed the 50/50 split with us several times in the past. It should also be noted I think that if Ronny didn't have BlockTrades doing this, he would have to pay someone to manage it, and those costs would come out of the profit from the trading fees anyways.

But I agree this page should probably be clarified to indicate there is a split of the trading fee revenue 50/50 between OL and BlockTrades acting as a gateway service provider. Please note that this split only applies to trading fees, BlockTrades does not participate in revenue sharing for other profit areas from OL (e.g. registration fees and other fees collected by OL).

thanks for the clarification.