Collective Investment: Land, Crypto and Coin Schemes: Regulatory ‘Property’

Abstract

The UK Supreme Court held in Asset Land Plc v. FCA [2016] UKSC 17 that the land-banking scheme required authorization as a collective investment scheme in order to be sold to retail investors. This article critically analyses that decision in light of various approaches to regulating real estate investment trusts (‘REITs’) in the UK, Singapore, and Hong Kong, respectively. It considers the degree to which deference should be given to the views of the regulators, and the ramifications for other areas like initial coin offerings which regulators are increasingly seeing as securities requiring both prospectus disclosure for the token offering and intermediary regulation for its trading. It argues that the regulation of token offerings is both necessary and desirable. Regulation not only helps protect investors from fraudulent token issuers but also helps to fulfil other worthwhile goals, such as providing additional funding for small to medium-sized enterprises and financial inclusion.