According to a Wall Street Journal report, the SEC has approved a $28 million Reg A+ offering for decentralized internet company Blockstack. Blockstack will begin selling the SEC-approved tokens – essentially an investment vehicle for fundraising – on Thursday.

This appears to be one of the first SEC-approved token offerings on the market and will chart a way forward for U.S. small business funding in the future. Founders Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea told WSJ reporter Paul Vigna that they spent $2 million to get approval for the sale.

“Mr. Ali said it took so long and cost so much because the company and the SEC had to start from scratch to create a protocol for a digital-token offering under Reg A+,” he wrote.

The Reg A+ platform lets companies raise up to $50 million from retail investors as opposed to only from so-called accredited investors. Thus far the Reg A+ uptake has been limited even considering the reduced documentation required by the SEC.

Connecting a token with a Reg A+ funding round could turn these into truly cryptocurrency-based equity investment vehicles, although Blockstack is selling utility tokens this time around.

Blockstack has already raised $5 million from venture capitalists and another $47 million in a 2017 token sale.

Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea image courtesy of Blockstack/Ariella Steinhorn