Private law aspects of SME funding by utility token offerings

The issuance of a token through an initial coin offering is an innovative funding opportunity, currently attracting a lot of attention. It is a form of digital crowdfunding on the blockchain, forming an interesting funding opportunity for SMEs. However, risks for investors are involved. This contribution investigates German private law issues of utility token offerings. The first part discusses ICOs and utility tokens. Subsequently the legal relations, contracts and obligations between the investors, the issuer and the listing platform will be discussed. This is followed by a discussion of the liability of the listing platform towards the investor for the project rating published