專訪tZERO：重新定義傳統金融服務模式，投資者教育始終是主要障礙

區塊鏈平台tZERO可能是今年下半年最吸引眼球的項目之一。

伴隨著證券型通證發行在年中的火熱，10月13日，tZERO完成了它的證券型通證發行（STO），這也是基於以太坊公有鏈的首例STO案例。在投資者披露的一封由tZERO官方發送的郵件中提到，「該STO遵循了美國證券法，對其所有投資者進行了KYC/AML核實，並根據條例D和條例S的第506(c)條規則，可得到登記豁免。」

此前，今年8月，私募股權投資機構金沙江資本宣布將向 Overstock 的子公司 tZERO投資 2.7 億美元，購買 tZERO平台 18% 的股權，金沙江資本還確認支付高達1.0455億美元購買310萬股Overstock.com公司股票，佔到該公司10%的股份。不僅如此，作為tZERO初始代幣發行項目的一部分，金沙江資本還表示將投資額外3000萬美元，將其代幣銷售募集的總金額增加到1.34億美元。

不過根據SEC最近發布的公告，最初定於12月15日完成的金沙江資本收購tZERO 18% 股權和310萬股 Overstock 股票的交易已經延期。金沙江資本已經通知 Overstock 和 tZERO，要求該交易延期；Overstock 也已經同意將該交易的完成時間延遲至 2019 年 2 月底。

在tZERO的證券型通證發行完成之時，我們郵件採訪了Overstock CEO也是tZERO負責人Patrick Byrne，採訪於11月中旬完成。恰逢國內探討STO氛圍火熱，北京市金融局局長霍學文在公開場合表示，STO視同非法金融活動；同期，北京市互聯網金融行業協會發布《關於防範以STO名義實施犯罪活動的風險提示》對STO風險進行提示，敲響了警鐘。直到最近，國內有關證券型通證的討論逐漸趨於理性。

就在國內有關STO活動偃旗息鼓時，tZERO也有許多新進展。在這篇採訪中，Patrick給我們分享了tZERO證券型代幣發行的全過程，關鍵時間節點，遇到的挑戰以及處理方式。最後Patrick還分享了tZERO的最新進展，他透露，tZERO正與BOX Digital Markets合作創建一個美國交易所來實現二級市場交易，並計劃與國際證券交易所建立合作關係。

以下為採訪對話，來看看Patrick有關tZERO的分享。

8BTC：tZERO has completed the issuance of preferred tZERO security tokens on 12nd, Oct. This is the first STO project based on Ethereum network. Would you do a brief intro of the whole process?

8BTC：tZERO在10月12日完成了preferred tZERO證券型代幣的發行。你能簡單介紹一下項目的完整流程嗎?

Overstock：Here』s a quick timeline of our STO process. We commenced the tZERO token pre-sale in December 2017 by offering the token to strategic purchasers. After receiving an overwhelming amount of support, we opened the subsequent sale to additional accredited investors in March 2018. The STO closed in August 2018 with $134M raised.

Overstock：這是我們的STO進展時間表。我們在2017年12月開始預售tZERO代幣，向戰略投資者出售代幣。在獲得壓倒性的支持後，我們於2018年3月向更多的合格投資者開放了後續銷售。該STO於2018年8月結束，共籌集了1.34億美元。

Following that, on October 12, 2018, we completed the issuance of our preferred tZERO security tokens by utilizing our token contract to mint the security tokens into a tZERO custodial wallet on behalf of our investors. The security tokens were issued to an address with a personal information hash (one of 1,200), which is unique to each token holder. With this address, investors can view the quantity of their tokens as well as see the date that they were issued on Etherscan and see that their tokens are secure.

隨後，在2018年10月12日，我們通過我們的代幣合約完成了「preferred tZERO」證券型代幣的發行，代表我們的投資者將證券型代幣生成到一個tZERO託管的錢包中。這些證券型代幣被發送到由個人信息哈希而成（1,200條之一）的地址上，這些地址對於每個代幣持有者來說都是唯一的。通過這個地址，投資者們可以在在Etherscan查看到他們代幣的數量和日期，並查看他們的代幣是否安全。

To ensure compliance with federal securities law and regulations, and the terms of the tokens themselves, the tokens are locked up in the tZERO wallet until January 10, 2019. After the 90-day period expires, we intend to offer investors two options to retrieve their tokens, through a digital securities account or a personal wallet. After investors retrieve their tokens, they will be able to resell or purchase additional tokens from other accredited investors in a digital securities account through an approved trading platform.

為了確保遵守聯邦證券法律法規和代幣本身的條款，這些代幣將被鎖定在tZERO錢包中直至2019年1月10日。90天的期限到期後，我們打算為投資者提供兩種選擇，通過數字證券賬戶或個人錢包來取回代幣。在投資者取回代幣後，他們將能夠通過被認可的交易平台的數字證券賬戶來轉售或購買其他合格投資者的代幣。

This was a huge milestone for us. This was one of the first Security Token Offerings completed on a decentralized public network. With this successful offering, we laid the groundwork for more private and public companies to raise capital through STOs in full compliance with the U.S. securities laws. In addition, we believe we』ve set the standard for investors who wish to trade security tokens.

這對我們來說是一個巨大的里程碑。這是在去中心化的公共網路上完成的首批STO之一。 通過這次成功的發行，我們為更多的私人及上市公司在完全符合美國證券法的情況下通過STO籌集資金的方法奠定了基礎。此外，我們認為我們已經為那些希望交易證券型代幣的投資者設定了標準。

8BTC：Did you face any challenges during that? How did you tackle them?

8BTC：在這段時間裡你們有沒有遇到過什麼挑戰? 你們是如何處理它們的?

Overstock：As we venture into new, uncharted territory, especially as we seek to revolutionize capital markets and redefine traditional financial services models, investor education is critical and always a major hurdle. Throughout the entire STO process we were very impressed with the overall level of knowledge and engagement among users in the blockchain community who were able to see the value in what we are creating. While we did come across some skepticism following the ICO wave of 2017, our team worked tirelessly to conduct this offering in accordance with exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. securities laws. As a result, we were able to address the investors』 questions and provide accredited investors with a compelling investment opportunity. In the end, the success of our STO not only met, but surpassed our initial goals.

Overstock：當我們冒險進入一個新的未知領域時，尤其是當我們尋求徹底改變資本市場並重新定義傳統金融的服務模式時，投資者教育至關重要，並且將始終是一個主要障礙。在整個STO流程中，我們對區塊鏈社區中用戶的整體知識水平和參與度印象深刻，他們能夠看到我們所創造的價值。雖然我們確實在2017年ICO熱潮之後收到了一些質疑，但我們的團隊仍根據美國證券法的註冊要求條款，不屈不撓地進行此次發行。因此，我們能夠解決投資者的問題，並為合格的投資者提供一個激動人心的投資機會。最後，我們的STO不僅成功完成了，而且還超越了我們的最初目標。

8BTC： In your opinion, what is the main difference between ICO and STO? Why did you prefer the latter one?

8BTC：你認為ICO和STO的主要區別是什麼？你為什麼選擇後者呢？

Overstock：The main difference is regulation. The ICO world attracted a lot of fraudsters, which undermined investor confidence. Investors needed to know that tZERO would optimize safety and security for their investment. STOs are revolutionizing the way companies are raising and accessing capital; and by pioneering this effort, we wanted to prove to the world that companies can conduct significant capital raises utilizing blockchain technology and reducing the role of intermediaries. tZERO was created to bring more efficiency and transparency to the capital markets and the proceeds from our own STO position us to develop a comprehensive trading system capable of trading tokens that are determined to be securities under the U.S. securities law.

Overstock：主要區別在於監管。ICO領域吸引了大量欺詐者，破壞了投資者的信心。投資者需要知道tZERO將會優化他們投資的安全性。STO正在革新公司籌集和獲得資金的方式; 通過這樣的努力，我們想向全世界證明，公司可以利用區塊鏈技術進行大規模的融資，並減少中介機構的作用。創立tZERO是為了提高資本市場的效率和透明度，我們STO所獲得的收益使我們可以開發一個能夠交易那些根據美國證券法被認定為證券的代幣的綜合交易系統。

8BTC：Do you have any road-map for tZERO?

8BTC：你們有關於tZERO的發展路線圖嗎？

Overstock：Our primary goal is to establish a standard for tZERO to assist other companies through the entire STO lifecycle. Since our inception in October 2014, tZERO has been an industry pioneer in the use of blockchain technology. In December 2016, we executed the world』s first blockchain-only trade. Through this experiment, the entire trade lifecycle was successfully completed and settled on the same day by using distributed ledger technology. In addition to the first ever public issuance of a blockchain security, tZERO also launched the world』s first SEC-compliant ATS for blockchain assets and the first private blockchain bond offering.

Overstock：我們的主要目標是為tZERO設立一個標準，來幫助其他公司完成STO交易完整生命周期。自2014年10月成立以來，tZERO一直是區塊鏈技術應用領域的行業先鋒。2016年12月，我們完成了世界首個僅限區塊鏈的交易。通過這個實驗，利用分散式賬本技術，整個交易生命周期在同天順利完成結算。除了首次公開發行區塊鏈證券外，tZERO還推出了世界上第一個符合SEC標準的區塊鏈資產ATS和發行了首個私有區塊鏈債券。

Looking ahead, we plan to focus our efforts and capital on launching the world』s first SEC-licensed security token exchange. We are currently working in partnership with BOX Digital Markets to create a domestic (USA) exchange to enable secondary trading and also plan to build partnerships with international securities exchanges. These are exciting times for tZERO and the financial industry as a whole and we believe we have the expertise and support to create a new market powered by blockchain.

展望未來，我們計劃集中精力和資金，推出世界上第一個SEC批准的證券型代幣交易所。我們目前正與BOX Digital Markets合作創建一個國內（美國）交易所來實現二級市場交易，並計劃與國際證券交易所建立合作關係。這對於tZERO和整個金融行業來說是激動人心的時刻，我們相信我們有足夠的專業知識和支持來創建一個由區塊鏈驅動的新市場。

感謝Linkea，Wendy對本文的貢獻。

參考文章：https://www.8btc.com/article/292368；https://www.8btc.com/article/294459

喜歡這篇文章嗎？立刻分享出去讓更多人知道吧！