It is not possible to enter into assessing the figure of STOs without briefly reviewing some elements that underlie the technology on which it is based and that, although it has become increasingly popular as a result of the growing media attention that it has attracted, still contains for all those who use computer tools only at the user level, a significant technical complexity.
First of all, we must refer properly to the technology that has made this disruptive form of financing possible: the blockchain. The so-called blockchain is no more - nor less - than a distributed ledger1 that records blocks of information continuously, which are linked through cryptography (through the so-called "hash" function).
This guarantees the security of the information registered in a blockchain network, allowing it to be verified, but not altered (a time stamp for the employee that makes such records immutable).
The management of this LEDGER is carried out by a distributed network of nodes without any type of link between them that simultaneously validate said information in a decentralized way.
That is, on the one hand, there are multiple copies of the registry and, on the other, the decision to register information on the network does not correspond to a single entity, but is adopted by the different network operators in accordance with the protocol that governs the Same.
The full potential of this disruptive technological infrastructure created by the enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto now more than ten years ago was overshadowed over time by the influx of bitcoin. This cryptocurrency constitutes the incentive designed to maintain the security of the network, as a form of remuneration received by the node (popularly known as "miner") that manages to solve the mathematical problem that allows generating a block of transactions in a certain network such as that of Bitcoin2.
However, even though it is not a legal tender, the possibility of using bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies as means of payment and even converting them into a store of value given the limited number of units to be issued, transformed them into a speculative investment asset.
If with the bitcoin network, blockchain technology allowed the transmission of value (solving the problem of double spending that circumscribes the internet to being a mere information transmission network), with subsequent networks such as Ethereum the way was opened to create authentic assets digital.
And this is thanks to the fact that these networks allow the use of so-called smart contracts, which are pieces of programmable computational code (scripts) stored in a blockchain network that are executed by themselves (without the intervention of any third party).
These applications, which despite their name are still far from being properly considered contracts as we understand them in our legal system, enable the creation of tokens. The tokens are in turn elements that allow a certain functionality to be digitally represented on a network, and also assets and even economic or political rights similar to those of an investor in a company or a business project
