US-based blockchain startup, Blockstack PBC, is in the news after it announced that it had raised about $23 million in an SEC-approved token offering, making it the first to run a token offering under regulation A+.
Blockstack shared the update with the community via a blog post which suggested that over 4,500 people and entities were part of the latest token offering. The offerings included both SEC-approved token offerings, along with the company’s offering to investors outside the U.S.
Muneeb Ali, Co-founder of the company, wrote in the blog post that for the first time, retail investors in the U.S. were able to participate in a token offering approved by the SEC. Investors included Union Square Ventures, Lux Capital, Recruit Holdings, Arrington Capital, Hashkey Group, Fenbushi Capital, Frontier Ventures, and Spartan Group, with other funds also a part of the offering.
According to Ali, gaining approval from the SEC wasn’t very easy as he, along with Co-founder Ryan Shea, spent $2 million and 10 months to get a thumbs up from the SEC. He wrote,
“One of our goals for working with regulators in the United States was to open up our network to a broader audience. We wanted to reach more retail investors who can be users of the Blockstack network.”
Additionally, Ali penned that luring investors from Asia was the fundamental intent behind the token offering. Hashkey and SNZ, two of the token offering’s many investors, were the ones that led the “Asia strategic round.”
The SEC-approved token offering has paved the way for the company’s expansion as it is now looking forward to developing its App Mining Program, Ali wrote. The company plans to use the funds raised to feed the development of the firm.
