About this Statement
Bitbuy Technologies Inc. (“Bitbuy” or “we”) believes that our users should understand the crypto assets that they are able to trade using our crypto trading platform (the “Platform”). One of the crypto assets we offer through the Platform is MANA. We created this summary to help you understand the basics of MANA as well as some of the risks involved in acquiring it. While we tried to describe the key features of MANA here, this summary isn’t meant to tell you everything you’d want to know before acquiring it. You should also do your own research on MANA to make sure you are comfortable acquiring it.
Description of MANA
MANA is an Ethereum-based token (known as an ERC-20 token) that primarily functions as a currency within Decentraland. Decentraland provides an infrastructure to support a shared virtual world, also known as a “metaverse”. It consists of a decentralized ledger for land ownership, a protocol for describing the content of each land parcel and a peer-to-peer network for user interactions.
Decentraland was created by Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano and is now overseen by the Decentraland Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on the development and operations of Decentraland, and a decentralized autonomous organization known as the Decentraland DAO. The Decentraland DAO, which is made up of MANA and LAND (as described below) holders, can make and vote on governance proposals which determine the policies of Decentraland.
Decentraland users can create, experience, and monetize content and applications. Users claim ownership of virtual land on a blockchain-based ledger of parcels. Landowners control what content is published to their portion of land. Contents can range from static three-dimensional scenes to interactive systems such as games. The social experience of users in Decentraland includes avatars, voice chat, messaging and interaction with the virtual environment.
Decentraland uses two tokens: LAND and MANA. LAND represents the non-fungible parcels in which the virtual world is divided. MANA is used to buy LAND and to make in-world purchases of goods and services. Once spent on LAND, MANA is subsequently burned.
Risks
Like other crypto assets, there are some general risks associated with acquiring MANA. We describe many of these general risks in the risk statement we publish on our website, including risks relating to: (i) volatility; (ii) access, loss or theft, (iii) control of processing power; (iv) settlement of transactions on crypto asset networks; (v) momentum pricing; (vi) private keys; (vii) internet disruptions; (viii) faulty code; (ix) network development and support; (x) regulatory risk; (xi) network forks; (xii) air drops; (xiii) voting rights; (xiv) cybersecurity incidents and other systems and technology problems; and (xv) unforeseeable risks. We also point out some risks that are specific to MANA below. While we tried to describe the key risks associated with MANA here and in our risk statement, these aren’t all of the risks associated with trading in MANA. You should also do your own research on MANA to make sure you are comfortable acquiring it.
MANA’s Dependence on the Ethereum Blockchain
As an ERC-20 token, the strength of MANA is dependent on the strength of the Ethereum network. If the Ethereum network were to experience a serious issue, MANA’s price could decline significantly.
MANA’s Dependence on Decentraland
The price of MANA is likely to decline in connection with negative public sentiment concerning the future success of Decentraland. Such negative public sentiment could arise in connection with poor user experience. For example, users have previously complained of slow loading times resulting from the use of a peer-to-peer network to enable content distribution. Additionally, users could be affected by the difficulty of filtering content for mature audiences (like pornography, violence or gambling) within a decentralized network. If Decentraland cannot properly moderate inappropriate or adult content, users may not interact with Decentraland.
How Bitbuy Decides to List Crypto Assets
Bitbuy reviews crypto assets before making them available for trading on the Platform. In making our decision to list a new crypto asset, we consider publicly available information about the crypto asset, including (among other things) its creation, design, governance, usage, supply, demand, maturity, utility, liquidity, material technical risks and legal and regulatory risks.
To date, we have only made crypto assets available for trading on the Platform which have significant supply, demand and liquidity. In our experience, crypto assets with these qualities tend to also satisfy the other criteria we evaluate as part of our review. That being said, our review process is fulsome and flexible, and we don’t prioritize any one factor over another. You should review the risk statement published on our website for more information about our procedures for determining whether to make a crypto asset available for trading on the Platform.
Regulatory Information
Bitbuy is offering crypto contracts to purchase and sell MANA in reliance on a prospectus exemption contained in the exemptive relief decision Re Bitbuy Technologies Inc. dated November 30, 2021. The statutory rights of action for damages and the right of rescission in section 130.1 of the Securities Act (Ontario) and similar legislation in the other provinces and territories of Canada would not apply in respect of a misrepresentation in this statement.
No Canadian securities regulatory authority has expressed an opinion about MANA, including an opinion that MANA is not itself a security and/or derivative.