The internet is a 40-year-old technology and is overdue for an upgrade. The original dream was to have an open network and level playing field for all users, but in reality, a few internet companies ended up controlling a large share of power and control. At Blockstack our mission is to enable an open, decentralized internet by giving all internet users more control over information and computation.

Over the last four years, we’ve been carefully building the foundation of a better internet. We’ve released infrastructure building blocks like blockchain virtualization, a reliable peer network, and user-controlled storage. We built a new browser for interacting with decentralized apps along with developer tools and a $25M fund for developers. We have a 7,000+ global community of engaged enthusiasts and developers who share our passion for building a better internet.

At Blockstack, it’s all about the long term. We’re striving to build something bigger than a company or protocol; our goal is to enable an entire ecosystem. Building a sustainable ecosystem requires careful attention to not just technology but governance structures and incentives of various players. We recently released our Blockstack Token Whitepaper that explains the technical details of the Blockstack token mining system, incentive mechanisms, and genesis block.

Today, we’re excited to announce the full details and timeline of the Blockstack token sale. We’re introducing a legal framework for token distribution that is inclusive while remaining compliant with regulations. We are also introducing milestone based triggers for when the funds can be used for operations and checks and balances for protocol core developers. We’ve carefully worked through the legal, logistical, and technical details and are finally ready to share it with the world.

In Blockstack Public Benefit Corp’s $4M Series A round of financing in Fall 2016, we laid out plans for launching a token. We don’t think of the token distribution primarily as a funding mechanism; in fact, we’ve raised two rounds of venture financing earlier, have more than enough capital in the bank, and have strong market interest to raise more. Instead, we’ve always been more interested in incentive mechanisms and new features, like support for truly independent mobile clients, enabled by a native token.

Our primary goal for the Blockstack token sale event is to get a wide distribution of tokens while complying with applicable law. Token holders are the stakeholders of the ecosystem, and it’s important that the distribution of tokens represents a broad community. Some highlights of the token sale:

For the upcoming token sale, everyone will participate at the same time and get the same price during the upcoming sale. There are no variable prices during the sale; just a single, constant price.

There is no pre-sale or discounts for the upcoming token sale. Existing shareholders of Blockstack PBC purchased tokens allocated for the “Creators” earlier in a separate offering. No other party can buy current or future tokens until the sale opens.

Accredited investors and qualified purchasers can participate in the upcoming sale at equal pricing and send payments by the closing of the sale. Other users will get a “voucher” for a future purchase at the same price as the accredited sale and can bring back the voucher to Blockstack Token LLC to finish the transaction and make the payment at a later date. The voucher is not a promise or guarantee, and Token LLC has the right not to honor it. If for some reason a voucher is not honored, the user will not pay anything. Users can get a voucher for free.

Blockstack Token LLC, a 100% owned subsidiary of Blockstack Public Benefit Corp is sponsoring the token sale. Token LLC and its subsidiaries will execute legal agreements and populate token allocations in the genesis block. Blockstack Token LLC cannot change/update token allocations after the network goes live.

The price for this offering has not been set and will depend on market demand. We will take in allocation requests during the sign-up period, and a price for investment instruments will be announced before the sale begins.

Some details of the token sale economics, upcoming registration period and sale timeline are already available at the Blockstack Token LLC website, and more details will be available in the coming weeks.



Learn About the Sale



Disclaimer: The Blockstack Tokens are a crypto asset that is currently being developed by Blockstack Token LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, whose website can be found at www.blockstack.com. This post does not constitute an offer or sale of Blockstack Tokens (“the Tokens”) or any other mechanism for purchasing the Tokens (such as, without limitation, a fund holding the Tokens or a simple agreement for future tokens related to the Tokens). Any offer or sale of the Tokens or any related instrument will occur only based on definitive offering documents for the Tokens or the applicable instrument.