Note: Right now this currency is only being offered to select Private Wealth clients. Click here to learn more about our Private Wealth (OTC) team and what they can do for you.
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 SAND. We created this summary to help you understand the basics of SAND as well as some of the risks involved in acquiring it. While we tried to describe the key features of SAND 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 SAND to make sure you are comfortable acquiring it.
Description of SAND
SAND is an Ethereum-based token (known as an ERC-20 token) that primarily functions as a currency within The Sandbox. The Sandbox is a virtual world (or a “metaverse”) where users can create, build and monetize gaming experiences using SAND to purchase LANDS (the platform’s ERC-721 non-fungible token) which represents physical parcels of The Sandbox metaverse. The Sandbox 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.
The Sandbox was created by Arthur Madrid, Sabastien Borget, Marcelo Santurio, Pablo Iglesias and Lucas Shrewsbury and was initially launched in 2012 on mobile platforms. In January 2018, The Sandbox project began development of a new version of the game – a multiplayer, 3D platform using the Ethereum network with an aim to bring blockchain technology into mainstream gaming.
The Sandbox 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 The Sandbox includes exploration, building and allowing users to decorate their spaces with sceneries and structures.
The Sandbox uses three tokens: SAND, LANDS and ASSETS. LANDS are physical spaces in the metaverse owned by players to create and monetize games. SAND is used to buy LAND and to make in-world purchases of goods and services. Every LAND comes with a set of prebuilt terrains that can be terraformed and modified by the user who owns it or other players they invite to work on it. User generated ASSETS are represented as ERC-1155 tokens, a smart contract to track token-ownership at the individual token level. Each ASSET has a unique identifier and properties stored as metadata. SAND can also be staked by its holders in order to earn rewards.
Risks
As an ERC-20 token, the strength of SAND is dependent on the strength of the Ethereum network. If the Ethereum network were to experience a serious issue, SAND’s price could decline significantly.
The price of SAND could also decline in connection with issues related to scaling and user popularity. If users stop playing the game, there could be an adverse effect on the token’s price. This effect could result if competing metaverse games draw users away from The Sandbox or if there is an overall decline in the popularity of metaverse games in general. Additionally, if the game cannot support mass influxes of users or if the game cannot regulate content, users may leave the game, thus affecting SAND’s price.
Like other crypto assets, there are also some general risks associated with acquiring SAND. 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. While we tried to describe the key risks associated with SAND here and in our risk statement, these aren’t all of the risks associated with trading in SAND. You should also do your own research on SAND to make sure you are comfortable acquiring it.
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 SAND 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 SAND, including an opinion that SAND is not itself a security and/or derivative.