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U N I T E D S T AT E S D I S T R I C T C O U R T
F O R T H E D I S T R I C T O F N E W H AM P S H I R E
S e c u r it ie s a n d E x c h a n g e C o m m is s i o n
v. Ca se No. 21-cv-260-P B
Opin ion No. 2022 DNH 138
L B R Y, I n c .
ME MO R AN D U M AN D O R D E R
Secu r it ies Act of 1933. LBRY r espon ds t h a t it does n ot n eed t o com ply wit h
t h e Secu r it ies Act beca u se it s a lleged secu r it y, a blockch a in t oken ca lled LBC,
I. B AC KG R O U N D
m oder n life. See Sa t osh i Na k a m ot o, Bit coin : A P eer -t o-P eer E lect r on ic Ca sh
Syst em (2008), h t t ps://bit coin .or g/bit coin .pdf (ou t lin in g t h e idea for a peer -t o-
own ed com pu t er s.” See Ka u ffm a n Decl., Doc. No. 61-3 a t 2 ¶ 5. Ver ified da t a
is h eld in decen t r a lized “block[s]” lin ked t oget h er via cr ypt ogr a ph ic con sen su s
*2 (N.D. Ca l. F eb. 27, 2015) (fu r t h er discu ssin g t h e t ech n ica l det a ils of
“m in in g”).
A. T h e D e v e lo p m e n t o f t h e L B R Y N e t w o r k
h ost su ch a s You Tu be. See Def.’s Mem ., Doc. No. 61-1 a t 3. LBRY a sser t s t h a t
it s LBRY Net wor k is “t h e fir st decen t r a lized, open -sou r ce, fu lly en cr ypt ed
con t en t dist r ibu t ion ser vice bu ilt u sin g t h e sa m e blockch a in t ech n ology t h a t
u n der lies Bit coin .” See In t r odu cin g LBRY: Th e Bit coin of Con t en t , Doc. No.
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la yer [.]” Ka u ffm a n Decl., Doc. No. 61-3 a t 3 ¶ 11. LBRY developed t h e “LBRY
See id. a t 5-6 ¶ 17. User s gen er a lly m u st pa y a fee in LBC in or der t o
Id. a t 4 ¶ 12.
a ppr oxim a t ely 1 billion LBC. See id. a t 4 ¶ 13. Most of t h e LBC will be
la u n ch ed in J u n e 2016, LBRY r eser ved a “pr e-m in e” of 400 m illion LBC for
it self. See id. a t 5-6 ¶ ¶ 14-15; see a lso Ka u ffm a n Dep., Doc. No. 62-20 a t 5. It
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“r ewa r din g ea r ly a dopt er s,” “r ecr u it in g pr odu cer s,” a n d “r ewa r din g
con t r ibu t or s t o t h e com m u n it y”; (2) 100 m illion in t o a n “In st it u t ion a l F u n d,”
“oper a t ion a l pu r poses.” See Ka u ffm a n Decl., Doc. No. 61-3 a t 5 ¶ 14.
in vest or s.” See Def.’s Mem ., Doc. N o. 61-1 a t 5. In Sept em ber 2016, t h e
ven t u r e ca pit a l fir m . See Ka u ffm a n Decl., Doc. No. 61-3 a t 9 ¶ 29. Sin ce t h en ,
com pa n y’s debt fin a n cin g. See Token Issu a n ce Agr eem en t , Doc. No. 64-30. It
iden t ifies, a cqu ir es, a n d st or es cr ypt ogr a ph ic a sset s for in vest m en t clu bs, a n d
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Doc. No. 64-18 a t 4; Ka u ffm a n Dep., Doc. No. 56-7 a t 28; LBRY Qu a r t er ly
t h r ou gh va r iou s digit a l a sset t r a din g pla t for m s. See Moon P a y Agr eem en t ,
B . T h e E n fo r c e m e n t Ac t io n
of LBC viola t e sect ion s 5(a ) a n d (c) of t h e Secu r it ies Act , 15 U.S.C. § 77e(a ),
(c). Com pl., Doc. No. 1 a t 15. Th e SE C seeks in ju n ct ive r elief, disgor gem en t of
m on ies obt a in ed t h r ou gh LBRY’s offer in gs, a n d civil pen a lt ies. Id. a t 15-16.
II. S T AN D AR D O F R E VI E W
(qu ot in g Ir obe v. USDA, 890 F .3d 371, 377 (1st Cir . 2018)) (clea n ed u p). I
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Lobby, In c., 477 U.S. 242, 247–48 (1986) (“[T]h e m er e exist en ce of som e
927 F .3d 43, 47 (1st Cir . 2019) (qu ot in g F a dili v. Deu t sch e Ba n k Na t ’l Tr . Co.,
772 F .3d 951, 953 (1st Cir . 2014)); see a lso Ma n del v. Bost on P h oen ix, In c.,
456 F .3d 198, 205 (1st Cir . 2006) (“Th e pr esen ce of cr oss-m ot ion s for
III. AN AL YS I S
To est a blish a pr im a fa cie viola t ion of Sect ion 5 of t h e Secu r it ies Act ,
32 F .4t h 902, 939 (10t h Cir . 2022); see a lso SE C v. Ka h lon , 873 F .3d 500, 504
(5t h Cir . 2017). LBRY does n ot ch a llen ge t h e SE C’s con t en t ion t h a t it offer ed
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A. D id L B R Y O ffe r L B C a s a S e c u r i t y ?
U.S. 293, 298-99 (1946); see a lso SE C v. SG Lt d., 265 F .3d 42, 46 (1st Cir .
2001). Con sist en t wit h t h e br oa d r ea ch of t h e Secu r it ies Act , “[t ]h is defin it ion
E dwa r ds, 540 U.S. 389, 393 (2004) (qu ot in g H owey, 328 U.S. a t 299). Th e
F or m a n , 421 U.S. 837, 848 (1975); see a lso Wa r field v. Ala n iz, 569 F .3d 1015,
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1021 (9t h Cir . 2009) (“Un der H owey, cou r t s con du ct a n object ive in qu ir y in t o
bea r s on t h is issu e by fir st exa m in in g LBRY’s r epr esen t a t ion s t o pr ospect ive
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1. L B R Y’s R e p r e s e n t a t io n s t o P o t e n t ia l P u r c h a s e r s
ca pit a liza t ion wa s a h ea lt h y $140 m illion . See 7/15/2016 LBRY Ar t icle, Doc.
No. 57-11. Th is, despit e t h e Net wor k’s r ela t ive in fa n cy a n d lim it ed u sa bilit y.
billion . Id. In r espon se, LBRY issu ed a blog post r eflect in g on LBC's
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LBRY it self. See id. An d LBRY’s st a ff wer e h a r d a t wor k “fr a n t ica lly
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view of LBRY’s con dit ion a n d pr ovidin g “a ca n on ica l a n swer t o qu est ion s
a bou t t h e pr ice of LBC.” See 11/15/2016 Ar t icle, Doc. No. 57-21. LBC’s pr ice
wa s low, h e con t en ded, beca u se of sim ple econ om ics: t h e su pply of LBC
people’s h a bit s,” r epla cin g “You Tu be” a n d “Am a zon .” See id. An d wh ile
in vest or s wer e u n lik ely t o m a ke a “qu ick bu ck,” Ka u ffm a n en cou r a ged t h em
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LBRY’s “Tech n ology E va n gelist ”. See Vin e In t er view, Doc. No. 57-19. Vin e
LBRY wou ld k eep “st olen [,] . . . u n sa vor y, or down r igh t illega l” con t en t fr om
t h e pr ot ocol, Vin e’s r espon se bet r a yed LBRY’s power br okin g r ole wit h in it s
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ca lled t h e “in cen t ive pr oblem []” in developin g open -sou r ce a lt er n a t ives t o
exist in g t ech n ologies t h a t a r e con t r olled by pr iva t e com pa n ies. See id. On e
Id.
a n ot h er posit ive u pda t e. See 10/14/2020 LBRY Ar t icle, Doc. No. 57-24. It
own ed a n d con t r olled a lt er n a t ive t o You Tu be a n d big t ech .” See id. In deed, it s
exch a n ge” wa s st ill “im m in en t ly a ch ieva ble” wit h ju st “som e t wea k s.” See id.
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a r e for ced t o r ely on “som e t h ir d-pa r t y” t o “m a gicly [sic] bu ild a wor ld-cla ss
a pplica t ion ” on t h eir blockch a in s. See id. Not LBRY. An d sin ce “[a ]pplica t ion s
u n iqu ely poised t o “deliver t h a t va lu e” by “own [in g] t h e wh ole st a ck.” See id.
iden t ified in SG a s eviden cin g H owey’s “expect a t ion of pr ofit s.” See SG Lt d.,
t h e 8,805 t weet s it iden t ified h a vin g post ed, see id., a ll per t a in in equ a l
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SE C v. Telegr a m Gr p. In c., 448 F . Su pp.3d 352, 365 (S.D.N .Y. 2020) (cit in g
disposit ive.”).
2. L B R Y’s B u s in e s s Mo d e l
wit h t h e com pa n y’s bu sin ess m odel wou ld h a ve u n der st ood t h e con n ect ion .
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wou ld LBC’s va lu e. Accor din gly, Ka u ffm a n r ea son ed, “[g]iven t h is sit u a t ion ,
liqu ida t ion va lu e by st a t in g “[s]in ce LBRY’s m ost sign ifica n t a sset will be it s
Sim ila r ly, in a post on it s websit e t it led “An swer s t o Big Qu est ion s
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a ssidu ou s effor t s.
Cr edit s a r e a lign ed.” See 7/15/2016 LBRY Ar t icle, Doc. No. 57-11. Th e SE C’s
t h in g.” See id. By it s own a ccou n t , LBRY expen ded sign ifica n t m a n a ger ia l
3. C o n s u m p t iv e U s e s fo r L B C
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LBRY offer ed LBC a s a secu r it y sim ply beca u se som e LBC pu r ch a ses wer e
t oken h eld som e con su m pt ive u t ilit y. See H owey, 328 U.S. a t 299.
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B . D id L B R Y R e c e iv e F a ir N o t ic e ?
Com m ission h ist or ica lly a n d con sist en t ly focu sed it s gu ida n ce, a s well a s it s
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con du ct a n ICO. Nor does LBRY offer a n y per su a sive r ea din g of H owey t h a t
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I V. CONCLUSION
for Su m m a r y J u dgm en t (Doc. No. 55) is gr a n t ed, a n d LBRY’s Mot ion for
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SO ORDE RE D.
/s/ P a u l J . Ba r ba dor o
P a u l J . Ba r ba dor o
Un it ed St a t es Dist r ict J u dge
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