many thanks for the thread. important question. is there a list of IPO's / fundraisers somewhere?

I would argue: large IPOs (1M$+) should be not allowed, in the sense that people should speak out against them and told that these are darkpatterns which are not wanted. so there is a continuum of outright banning, restricting and just campaigning against them.

if somebody wants to launch a CorporateCoin or eGold 2.0, do that outside the community. nobody wants it. bitcoin was designed precisely to avoid problems with eGold. a corporation can be attacked in various ways, or use its influence in various ways.

on the other hand problem is how to define "IPO"? somebody asking to be paid - is that an IPO? do you want to restrict all BTC flows and how? then you get into the question of potential admin corruption, i.e. "ban this person asking for money, and i'll pay you x BTC." another example is link to a Kickstarter. actually with BTC assurance contracts we can have a much better version of kickstarter.

my sugggestion: somebody opens up a thread and discusses some guidelines. then anyone can link to those guidelines, the next time somebody asks for a million bucks, he will be shown a flag: this is a darkpattern, established by discussion in this thread.

i.e. you want to raise 30 M$ without putting in a dime in yourself? => that is not a good idea.

some dark patterns:

* money beyond covering reasonable expenses (300k$ p.a. is highend)
* no skin in the game
* a lot of marketing based on non facts
* referencing law of the country. if you're raising in BTC, there is no law covering this, unless you have proof, i.e. legal docs to back up your claims