Last updated: August 31, 2018
Hedera is currently conducting an accredited investor crowdsale to support the launch of the platform and accelerate development of its decentralized application ecosystem.
Please be vigilant and take extra precautions against scams. We are not offering a crowdsale to non-accredited investors at this time. Beware of pools and sophisticated “sale” websites that look like legitimate invitations to participate in a Hedera token offering, but are hosted on a different URL. Hedera SAFT offerings will be hosted at the hederahashgraph[dot]com URL.
Never click a link or trust an email or chat message soliciting investment! Rather, type the Hedera URL hederahashgraph[dot]com directly into a browser.
GENERAL
What is a SAFT? Is this an ICO?
A SAFT is a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens. Hedera is not conducting an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) and we will not have a token until network launch.
When did the crowdsale open?
The SAFT accredited investor crowdsale opened on Wednesday, August 1st, 2018 at 8:00 AM EST. Read the press release and watch the video.
When did the crowdsale close?
We have officially closed our crowdsale. We will not be accepting any new applications, and the crowdsale registration page has been removed from our website. Please do not fall for any scams pretending to still be collecting funds from Hedera.
Anyone who has already registered and is currently going through the investor identity and accreditation verification process will be able to proceed, provided they complete the process by August 18th.
What is an accredited investor?
You can read more about the definition of an accredited investor on Investor.gov.
Are you accepting non-accredited investors? Why do I have to be accredited?
Only accredited investors are eligible to purchase a SAFT. Hedera is a US-based company and the crowdsale is being conducted in accordance with SEC regulations as a private placement pursuant to Rule 506(c), which limits participation to accredited investors. We appreciate all those who have expressed interest through our website.
I am not an accredited investor. How can I get involved?
As the public network launch nears, developers and community members will be invited to beta test the network and will receive tokens for their contributions (regulations permitting). To apply as a beta tester, sign up for our newsletter, which is located in the footer of our website.
What countries are allowed to participate?
The SAFT is being offered to accredited investors in 63 countries. The countries are: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Virgin Islands (British), Bulgaria, Canada, Cayman Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Iceland, India, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.
Why is my country not on the list?
We would like to offer the SAFT as widely as possible, yet we are also committed to complying with applicable laws and regulations. Therefore, the SAFT is not being offered in jurisdictions where, based upon the advice of legal counsel, doing so could place either Hedera or investors at risk of violating local laws and regulations, particularly as they relate to securities offerings, offshore investments, or the sale of tokens or cryptocurrencies.
CROWDSALE / TOKEN
What are the investment options? What is the cost per token?
Two options are available, with different prices and token release schedules.
Option A: $0.12 per token. 20% of tokens to be issued as soon as practicable six months after the network launch, with an additional 10% of tokens per month over the subsequent 8 months.
Option B: $0.096 per token. 20% of tokens to be issued as soon as practicable six months after the network launch, with an additional 20% of tokens per year over the subsequent 4 years.
What is the lockup period for the institutional investors?
The SAFT terms and conditions — including token prices and token release schedules — are the same for institutional investors in this round as they are for those participating in the accredited investor crowdsale.
What is the lockup period for previous investors?
Institutional investors had the same 8-month or 4-year lock-up options as accredited investors in the crowdsale. SAFT investors from earlier rounds are subject to 4-year lockup periods.
What is the lockup for the founders?
The founders, Mance Harmon and Dr. Leemon Baird have the majority of their tokens vesting in 4 to 6 years. They have been business partners for over 25 years, and plan to focus on, and invest in, Hedera for the long-term.
Who are the some of your investors?
We are proud to be partners with Blockchange, BlockTower Capital, Digital Currency Group, Distributed Global, DNA Fund, Hexa Labs, Multicoin Capital, and many others. Visit the Investors page for more information.
What is the step-by-step process to invest?
What are the minimum and maximum investment amounts?
The minimum per person is US$1,000. The maximum per person is US$250,000. If you are interested in investing more than US$250,000, please email [email protected].
What methods of payment do you accept?
We accept US dollars (USD) via wire transfer and Bitcoin (BTC).
Can I split my payment between USD and BTC?
You are not able to use both forms of payment in respect of one SAFT. However, you can purchase one SAFT in USD and another SAFT using BTC.
How is the BTC price pegged?
Payments in BTC are valued in USD using the most recent trading price at the top of the hour as calculated on bitcoinaverage.com. For example, if you make a bitcoin payment at 2:45pm, the BTC would be valued in USD at the bitcoinaverage.com trading price at 2pm.
Can I submit BTC from an exchange wallet? The system says I shouldn’t.
This is a default warning that you can disregard. Funding from an exchange wallet is acceptable.
How will you link my BTC payment to my account?
The portal provides a unique BTC address to each account.
My investor accreditation is still under review. Why is there a delay? How long will it take?
Verification of accredited investor status is being handled by VerifyInvestor, and the process can take a few days. We believe most general questions are addressed in VerifyInvestor’s comprehensive FAQ. If you still have questions regarding accredited investor verification, please contact VerifyInvestor at [email protected] or complete a form at verifyinvestor.com/contact.
What happens after my accredited status is verified?
Once verified as an accredited investor, you will be granted access to the SAFT and related documents. After careful review of those documents, you must review and indicate whether you can make certain legal representations to Hedera. Then you select SAFT Option A or Option B, your contribution amount (min: $1,000 USD; max: $250,000), payment method (USD or Bitcoin), and electronically sign the SAFT. Finally, you will receive payment instructions on how to wire funds or send BTC.
I submitted my investment via wire. When will I receive confirmation?
Each day we are updating the log of received wires. After your wire is logged, your SAFT will be emailed to you. Please note that wires can sometimes take several days to clear. We appreciate your patience, and please reach out to us at [email protected] if you haven’t received a SAFT within 3 days of completing the wire transfer.
What is the total supply of tokens?
We have a fixed supply of 50 billion tokens.
What is the token distribution?
We expect token distribution at the beginning to be approximately as follows:
How much did management invest?
Management and almost two-thirds of employees invested over $10m in the most recent round.
Why does the council hold so much in treasury? Why are you only selling such a small percentage?
The Hedera network reaches consensus on transactions through a token-weighted process, in which a particular transaction becomes final when nodes holding an aggregate of over two-thirds of tokens have validated that transaction. This means that an attacker could disrupt the network by owning or controlling one-third of the tokens. This is the reason we initially have a very slow token release schedule. By having almost 65% of tokens held by Hedera treasury and proxy-staked to trusted nodes (that is, nodes hosted by Hedera Council members), an attack becomes virtually impossible. To protect the Hedera network from certain classes of attack, we anticipate that the circulating supply of tokens will remain below 10% of the total token supply for the first year and below 33% of the total token supply for at least five years.
What is the valuation based on these metrics?
We expect approximately 6% of total supply to be released initially and approximately 10% of total supply to be circulating by the end of the first year. At today’s value, this implies a valuation of $360 million based on expected circulating supply on the first day tokens are released, and $600 million based on expected circulating supply at year one. Management and two-thirds of employees have invested an aggregate of over $10 million on the terms of the SAFT being offered in the accredited investor crowdsale.
Is Hedera going to do an AirDrop?
At this time, we do not expect to have an Airdrop. We are developing testing programs where the community will be able to earn tokens for testing the network, participating in hackathons, etc. If interested, please complete the “register your interest” form on our website.
Can I participate in a pool?
We strongly discourage investors from attempting to participate via an investment pools. No investment pools have been authorized by Hedera. Any SAFT purchasers discovered to be pools with non-accredited investors will be cancelled, the investment amounts refunded, and pool organizers banned from further participation.
I think I found a scam/scammer/pool. How can I report?
Please be vigilant and take extra precautions against scams. We are not offering a crowdsale to non-accredited investors at this time. Beware of pools and sophisticated “sale” websites that look like legitimate invitations to participate in a Hedera token offering, but are hosted on a different URL. Hedera SAFT offerings will be hosted at the hederahashgraph[dot]com URL. Never click a link or trust an email or chat message soliciting investment. Rather, type the Hedera URL hederahashgraph[dot]com directly into a browser. Read more on how you can protect yourself from phishing attacks. Please report all scams to [email protected] and additionally report to outlet channel if possible.
What will the raised funds be used for?
The funds will be used to build and grow the Hedera platform globally. Core divisions that we will dedicated resources to include Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Developer Advocacy, Community Development, Legal, etc.
PLATFORM
When will the network launch?
The Hedera mainnet will launch in the coming months for early partners and developers to build decentralised applications. We will be testing the network over the following six months and opening it up for more developers. We expect that the initial issuance of tokens pursuant to the SAFTs will occur in Q1/Q2 2019.
What exchanges will list Hedera?
Hedera does not control whether its token will be on exchanges, but we anticipate that Hedera tokens are likely to be traded on exchanges at some point in 2019.
What will the token price be on exchanges?
We do not speculate on the future market price of the token.
What decentralized applications have announced to be on platform?
Check out the Dapps page for companies that have committed to building decentralized apps to run on the network. Many more dapps are in the pipeline.
How large is the Hashgraph developer ecosystem?
More than 22,000 developers have connected with us around the globe. Our developer discord channel has 4,500 active developers learning and contributing to the Hashgraph ecosystem.
Will developers be rewarded for participating in testnet/mainnet?
We are developing a testing program where the community will be able to earn tokens for testing the network and developers will be able to earn tokens for building on the network. We hope to launch this program in Q3/Q4 2018.
What organizations will be a part of the Hedera Council? Who has signed LOIs (Letters Of Intent)?
We will release the names of the inaugural Hedera Council members in the coming months. Hedera has received signed letters of intent from over a dozen prospective Council members, representing blue chip companies from multiple sectors and geographies. Check out the Council page for more information.
Can the Council pay themselves by selling tokens from the Hedera Treasury?
No, Council members cannot engage in self-dealing and use the proceeds of token sales to pay themselves. Funds held by the Hedera treasury — whether Hedera tokens or fiat currency — are not owned by Hedera management or Council members, and cannot be paid out as dividends or profits distributions.
Who are your team members?
You can read more about our team on the About page.
How much has Hedera raised so far?
On March 13th, 2018, Hedera announced it had raised US$18 million (see Forbes). On August 1st, 2018, Hedera announced it had raised a total of US$100 million (see CoinDesk).
How much has Hedera received in the crowdsale so far?
Over 6,000 people registered for the crowdsale, indicating strong community interest in the project. Of those that registered, approximately 13% passed accreditation, and a large majority of those who qualified did invest. We recognize the process was challenging for many people. However, we felt it was very important to strictly follow the governing laws and the recommendations of our legal counsel. Even so, as of August 15th, we are closing in on the $20 million cap.
We will continue to process those that registered, but haven’t yet completed accreditation through August 18th. At that point, any remaining amount not sold in the crowdsale will be added to the $25 million dollars of tokens already allocated for the community. The community’s help in testing, utilizing, and building on the network will be incredibly valuable to us and we believe people should be rewarded for that.
For more information, read our blog post:
http://hederahashgraph.com/blog/hedera-hashgraph-raises-100-million-to-further-develop-public-distributed-ledger-network-and-dapp-ecosystem
Note: edited to include additional questions.