The Jersey Financial Services Commission (JFSC) has now published an application form to allow potential ICO issuers to apply to the JFSC for the relevant consent required under the Control of Borrowing (Jersey) Order 1958 (COBO). This follows the publication of guidelines on the launch of ICOs by Jersey issuers in July 2018, in relation to our recent briefing.
The form requires details of:
- the consent being sought;
- the corporate services provider;
- the issuing entity (including details of the ultimate beneficial owners);
- the issue, including the type of token being issued, a description of the rationale behind the issue and any underlying assets;
- the legal relationship that will be created between the issuer and holders of the tokens, including a description of how the token holders will benefit from the activity being funded by the ICO;
- the ICO's target market;
- the steps taken to protect purchasers of the tokens;
- details of who will take responsibility for the contents of the information document/white paper, and whether it will be issued in a language other than English;
- whether the ICO will comply with the JFSC's Sound Business Practice Policy;
- whether the tokens will be "securities" for the purposes of COBO, or whether the ICO issuer will be carrying on another regulated activity;
- whether the issuer will be an AIF for the purposes of AIFMD; and
- whether the issuer will also be a virtual currency exchange under the Jersey virtual currency regime which was introduced in 2015.
Potential issuers will also be required to complete a Memorandum of Compliance in a form appended to the application form for any information document or white paper produced in respect of the ICO, which includes a checklist containing various information statements that must be included.
The application form can be accessed on the JFSC website.
For more information of the regulatory framework for launching an ICO in Jersey, please see our briefing "Initial Coin Offerings in Jersey – An Introduction" or get in touch with one of our team.
