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Thursday, 10 May 2018 - 1.00pm
Location: 
Faculty of Law, B16

Abstract

The rise of new technologies is changing the way companies raise funds. In 2017, the use of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) rapidly grew, allowing companies in places such as the US, Europe, and Asia to raise more than $5 billion. Thus, ICOs are starting to be perceived as a funds raising tool for developing projects, while trying to circumvent the constraints of initial public offerings regulation. In a typical ICO, a company raises cryptocurrencies giving ‘tokens’ in return. The unique features of such ICOs present challenges to securities regulators, which have been addressed in a disparate manner across jurisdictions. For example, the US, Switzerland and Singapore require companies to comply with existing securities regulations. China has prohibited ICOs, and Mexico has subject ICOs to a system of full control ex ante. ICOs additionally present challenges from an accounting, finance and corporate governance perspective. This presentation seeks to provide an understanding of such challenges as well as some suggestions for how regulators and policy-makers might address these issues.

Aurelio Gurrea Martínez is a Corporate Governance and Teaching Fellow in Capital Markets and Financial Regulation at Harvard Law School, Founder and Executive Director of the Ibero-American Institute for Law and Finance, and Lecturer in Business Law and Director of International Programs at the Centro de Estudios Garrigues. He studied law and business (LLB, BA, PhD) in Spain, where he is also a qualified auditor. He received a Master of Science in Law and Finance from the University of Oxford and a Master of the Science of Law from Stanford University. Aurelio has been an advisor to the Spanish Ministry of Justice and a national expert for the assessment of the Spanish insolvency and secured transaction regime conducted by the International Monetary Fund. Aurelio has been a visiting researcher at various institutions, including Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Yale Law School, and the Max Planck Institute, and he is an instructor for the Global Certificate Program for Securities Regulators organised by Harvard Law School and the International Organization of Securities Commissions. He is founding partner at Dictum, a business law firm with offices in Spain and Hong Kong. In 2016, he was named Rising Star of Corporate Governance by the Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School.

Nydia Remolina León is a Lecturer in Financial Regulation at the University of Los Andes and Senior Advisor for Innovation, Regulation and Digital Transformation at Bancolombia, one of the largest financial groups in Latin America. She holds a Master of the Science of Law (focusing on capital markets, corporate finance, and financial innovation) from Stanford University, and a Law degree and a Master’s in Capital Markets from Javeriana University. She has acted as a senior consultant to the OECD, and she practiced at Sullivan & Cromwell (New York Office) specialising in financial regulation, M&A, and Fintech. She is a Research Associate at the Ibero-American Institute for Law and Finance and a Member of the International Advisory Board of the Foundation for Financial Innovation and the Digital Economy. Nydia has delivered lectures at numerous institutions in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, and she has been invited to speak about Fintech and Regtech at various international organisations, including the International Monetary Fund and the International Organization of Securities Commissions.

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