The Institute for Blockchain Innovation launched on 1 May 2018. Gregory Keough founded it and served as its chairman. This page collects the contemporaneous press coverage, because the record of what he built is better told by the people who reported it at the time than by him.
What it was
An industry body formed to develop standards and guardrails for blockchain and digital assets at a point when almost none existed. Its founding participants included Finova Financial, Indiegogo, 500 Startups and Ausum Ventures, alongside figures from academic, regulatory, entrepreneurial and venture capital backgrounds.
Its first substantive project was the JOBS Crypto Offering, a proposed alternative to the initial coin offering that would bring token issuance inside the existing Regulation A framework of the JOBS Act. In 2018, when the ICO market was largely unregulated, that was an argument for more regulation, not less.
The JOBS Crypto Offering, and who designed it
The idea the Institute took up did not begin with the Institute. It began a year earlier, at Finova Financial, and it was built with Cooley LLP, one of the principal securities and technology law firms in the United States.
Cooley announced it on 8 November 2017:
“Cooley advised Finova Financial on the creation of a fundraising process known as a JOBS crypto offering or JCO.”
“JCOs are the brainchild of fintech entrepreneur Gregory Keough, current CEO of Finova and former CEO of Mobile Financial Services, a MasterCard and Telefónica joint venture for mobile financial services.”
Cooley described the structure as a hybrid of an initial coin offering and a traditional IPO, giving investors equity in previously private companies using cryptocurrency, with the tokens tracked on a distributed ledger and, in Cooley’s words, “sold pursuant to a registration statement filed under the Securities Act.”
That is the point worth sitting with. In late 2017, when the initial coin offering market was raising billions with no registration and little disclosure, the proposal Keough put his name to, designed with Cooley, was built around filing a registration statement. Read Cooley’s announcement
What he said at the time
“IBI is an open source community who believe that the impact of the blockchain will be even greater than the internet.”
“We believe that the blockchain will be a powerful engine for bringing more people into prosperity and encouraging innovation at an unprecedented level.”
Who joined
The founding participants included Finova Financial, Indiegogo, 500 Startups and Ausum Ventures, alongside figures from academic, regulatory, entrepreneurial and venture capital backgrounds.
In May 2018 VentureBeat reported that Jeremy Gardner, David Namdar and Vishal Gurbuxani had joined Finova as investors and advisers.
Securities.io later recorded further members joining the Institute:
- Katya Fisher, partner, Fisher Cataliotti
- Alex Mascioli, chief executive, Quantreq
- Mohit Dovar, chief executive, HTX Mena
- Chad Folkening, chief executive, Global Ventures
- Nisa Amoils, partner, Republic Labs
- Josh Hurwitz, chief operating officer, and Michael Zavet, chief executive, Hyperion
- Ariel Muslera, RSK Labs
- Juan Pablo Capello, chief executive, PAW Law
- Satya Bajpai, leader of blockchain and digital assets, JMP Securities
- Jesus Rodriguez, chief executive, Invector Labs
The coverage
- Cooley LLP, 8 November 2017. “Finova Financial Unveils JOBS Crypto Offering.” The firm that advised on the structure. Read it
- Forbes, Nish Acharya, 1 May 2018. “Launching Today…The Institute For Block Chain Innovation.” Describes Keough as chairman and co-founder of the Institute and chief executive of Finova Financial. Read it
- Nasdaq, 1 May 2018. “Newly Formed Institute for Blockchain Innovation Backs ICO Alternative.” Read it
- Bitcoin Magazine, Shawn Gordon, 1 May 2018. “Newly Formed Institute for Blockchain Innovation Backs ICO Alternative.” Read it
- VentureBeat, 1 May 2018. “Blockchain/Crypto Pioneers from Ausum Ventures, Finova Financial, Indiegogo, 500 Startups, Academia, and Others Establish Institute for Blockchain Innovation.” Read it
- Securities.io. “Institute for Blockchain Innovation Welcomes New Members.” Records later members including partners and chief executives from Fisher Cataliotti, Quantreq, HTX Mena, Global Ventures, Republic Labs, Hyperion, RSK Labs, PAW Law, JMP Securities and Invector Labs. Read it
Finova Financial
Keough was chief executive of Finova Financial, the company through which he came to the Institute. The California Business Journal profiled the business in March 2017 under the headline “Problem Solver,” describing an online lending platform offering emergency loans at rates up to seventy per cent below the national average to the roughly seventy million Americans outside the traditional financial system, who would otherwise turn to payday lenders. Read it
In May 2018 VentureBeat reported Jeremy Gardner, David Namdar and Vishal Gurbuxani joining Finova as investors and advisers. Read it
Before Finova he was chief executive of the joint venture between MasterCard and Telefónica.
All links go to the original publishers. Quotations are taken from those articles as published. Dates are the publication dates shown by each outlet.