>>25290943
I bought LINK early because I knew I wanted to make a little business collateralizing and perhaps running nodes. I knew that if I waited to buy the token while the network grew & matured, it would get increasingly expensive to set up my business. So yes I bought on future potential, and no that doesn't make it a security. The motivation to buy link was to access & use the chainlink network because I thought I could create value myself through use of the network.
As an analogous example, I bought solar panels way back when renewable energy credits / allowances were being introduced. I bought in the panels in the winter when they go for a slight discount. In creating a community solar arrangement, I raised funds from willing neighbors to finance the acquisition & implementation of the panels. The key here was that it was made abundantly clear in marketing & contracts that the funders were buying a subscription to the farm's energy output (i.e. energy for their own personal consumption) and not a stake in the farm itself that they could profit from. Of course, they could consume the energy their subscription allowed in order to generate value, create cost savings, or otherwise indirectly profit.
But just like Chainlink, the thing was explicitly set up to sell the rights to consume a utility, not to invest in the utility itself.