I understand there may be legal issues, but I am very curious as to how they can be backed by shares, but not be exchangeable for shares? I am not a legal expert, but I really hope that there is some legal difference between simply giving out shares for free as reddit is doing, and raising capital through issuing shares which is what companies usually do. It may well be the case, and I really hope it is, that you can simply give away shares, where no monetary value is required in return, without crossing any regulatory issues. If so, then reddit would be the very first company to harness the blockchain technology for this purpose which may have huge innovative benefits.

If that isn't possible, then the notes would either have a fixed value being whatever is given out to each user either directly or indirectly, thus making the whole process perhaps unnecessary, or it would be like any other "coin" without much difference, but the fact that reddit issued them.

So, I think everyone is excited to see if you guys can pull this off and be the first to use the blockchain to issue a backed floating asset, or whether we will be completely disappointed and have just another "coin" (I know it won't be an altcoin I am just using coin as a shortcut word).

No Pressure and thank you for keeping us updated and engaging with the reddit and cryptocurrency community.