The Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) is an open-source agreement framework for token sales developed by Protocol Labs in collaboration with AngelList and Cooley. The SAFT is inspired by the Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) developed by Y Combinator. It is used as the default agreement by Coinlist, a platform for connecting token based networks with investors for pre-launch token sales. The first use of the SAFT was implemented for the Filecoin token sale by Protocol Labs.
A SAFT is an investment contract between investors and developers. Investors pay money to developers for the right to cryptocurrency tokens upon completion of the product. It is part of the developing legal standards and regulatory frameworks arising around digital token sales. It was created amid uncertainty over the legal structure around of the increasingly popular initial coin offering (ICO) ecosystem. The U.S. SEC has released statements suggesting some token sales may fall under U.S. securities law depending on the particular facts and circumstances of the unique token sale as well as a comprehensive report specifying the DAO tokens as securities. China’s central bank and South Korean financial regulators have taken notice both issued bans on current ICO activity in September 2017.
The SAFT project launched a website and github organization on October 2nd, 2017 along with a SAFT whitepaper written by Juan Benet, Marco Santori, and Jesse Clayburgh.
