Props
It won SEC qualification, then said the rules left it no room to grow
A token that users of the live-streaming app YouNow and other apps earned for creating, watching and tipping, spendable on in-app perks across the network and distributed under an SEC Regulation A+ qualification.
- Capital raised (announced)
- Reported figures differ
Recorded announced backing; this is separate from cash received, customer deposits and money recovered.
Funding
| Round | Date | Announced | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Token-sale financing (April 2020) | 2020 | ||
| Token pre-sale (SAFT) | Unknown |
Announced is what was said at the time. Cash actually received is rarely disclosed and is not assumed to match.
People
| Name | Role | Period | Now | Last checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adi Sideman | — | Founder and CEO, Popcorn, an AI video production company | Oct 2026 |
Promises vs reality
Aspiration
At the shutdown, expansion onto US exchanges was reported as still only planned.
A missed promise is a missed promise. It is not evidence of fraud, and this page does not treat it as any.
Timeline
19 June 2019
To distribute tokens to users, creators and validators; no money was to be raised through it.
11 July 2019
The second token offering qualified under Regulation A+, a day after Blockstack's. Tokens could be moved between apps but not exchanged for dollars.
30 April 2020
The company said the network had more than 3 million users.
12 August 2021
How it ended
Open Props said it would end the Props loyalty program and stop maintaining the protocol at the end of 2021. Its chief executive, Adi Sideman, wrote that the tokens could not be developed to commercial success under the regulatory framework: as qualified securities, every significant product change had to go through an SEC approval process.
Still alive
Open spot
Props is gone. Is your creator platform still running?
Spotlight your project here.
Sources
14 sources behind this page.
- 1Adi Sideman (@didisimon) account record · Adi Sideman on X (account id 12440612), retrieved via twitterapi.io
- 2Props Shutdown Throws Reg A+ Funding Model Into Limbo · CoinDesk · Aug 2021
- 3SEC Gives YouNow's Ethereum Token 'Props' Reg A+ Approval · CoinDesk · Jul 2019
- 4Video Startup YouNow Files With SEC to Give Away Crypto · CoinDesk · Jun 2019
- 5YouNow's Regulated Crypto Project Props Will Migrate to Algorand Blockchain · CoinDesk (syndicated by Yahoo Finance) · Apr 2020
- 6SEC approves Props as the first consumer RegA+ token · CoinGeek
- 7SEC greenlights a second crypto offering: YouNow's Props tokens · Decrypt · Jul 2019
- 8Adi Sideman (IDEAS speaker page) · IDEAS - International Data Engineering And Science Association
- 9Adi Sideman — CEO, Revel.xyz (Outer Edge Riyadh speaker page, event of 23 April 2024) · Outer Edge
- 10About us · Popcorn (popcorn.co)
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- 11Popcorn.co (@popcorn_co) account record · Popcorn.co on X (account id 1845811774777364488), retrieved via twitterapi.io
- 12Props raises $2M in funding led by Union Square Ventures and Borderless Capital, Moves to Scale on Algorand Platform · PR Newswire (press release issued by Props) · Apr 2020
- 13SocialFi Collectibles: Revel.xyz Launches on Polygon · Revel.xyz via ACCESSWIRE (Yahoo Finance copy) · Oct 2023
- 14Search of @didisimon posts mentioning Props or YouNow, 2019 to 2021 · X, retrieved via twitterapi.io
Every figure above is clickable and opens the sources behind it. Copies were stored when each source was read, so a citation still resolves after the page it came from is gone.