Tagged: initial coin offering

May 21, 2019 @ 9:54 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has receved another emergency court order halting an alleged initial coin offering (ICO) fraud. According to the SEC, a $30 million Ponzi scheme, led by South Florida-based Argyle Coin, and its principal Jose Angel Aman, targeted over 300 US… Read More

May 18, 2019 @ 9:39 am By Cali Haan  |  

A civil case brought by investors against former heavyweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and celebrity DJ Khaled alleging they induced their social media followers to buy into a fraudulent ICO (initial coin offering) has been dismissed. Allegations of touting unregistered securities were also dismissed against… Read More

May 15, 2019 @ 8:09 am By JD Alois  |  

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) have jointly taken action against Alex Tapscott and NextBlock Global Limited for misleading investors pertaining to digital asset investments. Both agencies require Tapscott-NextBlock to pay penalties affiliated with the securities offering. According to… Read More

April 18, 2019 @ 11:33 am By Cali Haan  |  

Sirin Labs, a “blockchain smartphone” company that raised $255 million in two ICOs, has confirmed it is laying off employees, Israeli news outlet Globes reports. Contrary to media reports of larger numbers let go, Sirin Labs says it is only laying off 15 of 60… Read More

April 8, 2019 @ 12:00 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) moved forward on clarifying their position regarding digital assets. First, a No-Action Letter (NAL) was released pertaining to the issuance of a token by TurnKey Jet. In a tightly defined issuance, Turnkey was deemed not to be… Read More

April 1, 2019 @ 11:09 pm By JD Alois  |  

According to a report in the Vancouver Sun, Vanbex, formerly doing business as Etherparty Smart Contracts, has been hit with a lawsuit launched by the British Colombia Civil Forfeiture Office. The report alleges that Vanbex and its two founders, Lisa Cheng and Kevin Hobbs, were… Read More

March 27, 2019 @ 6:23 am By JD Alois  |  

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has issued a release stating it has found that Envion AG “unlawfully received public deposits on a commercial basis from at least 37,000 investors.” Envion is currently in the process of being liquidated by the Zug bankruptcy authority…. Read More

March 24, 2019 @ 10:00 am By Jason A. Nagi  |  

For the third time since November 2018, on February 20, 2019, the SEC issued a cease and desist order relating to an initial coin offering (ICO) which set forth the steps for remediation of an unregistered securities offering, this time for Gladius Network, LLC (the… Read More

March 22, 2019 @ 4:49 am By Cali Haan  |  

Jared Rice Sr, creator of “AriseBank” and the associated cryptocurrency/token “AriseCoin,” has pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud in Texas, Dallas News reports. The plea reportedly involved Rice admitting that he lied to investors when he raised money for his project. These lies… Read More

February 21, 2019 @ 2:23 pm By Cali Haan  |  

CryptoSolarTech, a Spanish cryptocurrency mining company that raised $68 million USD (60 million euros) in an ICO fundraise last spring has sent a letter to investors announcing that the company will cease operations and return the money collected in the ICO, Cointelegraph reports. A copy… Read More

February 20, 2019 @ 7:36 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Gladius Network, LLC, a company that raised $12.7 million dollars via ICO (initial coin offering) in late 2017 to, “develop a network for renting spare computer bandwidth to defend against cyber attacks and enhance delivery speed,” has settled with the SEC after self-reporting its unregistered… Read More

February 20, 2019 @ 3:17 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Rise, a German company marketing a forthcoming initial coin offering (ICO) with a campaign featuring a “democratize prosperity” slogan and a video of a homeless man driving a Lamborghini, has had its “virtual IPO” (ICO) scuttled by Germany’s Federal Supervisory Authority (Bafin), Handelsblatt reports. The… Read More

February 15, 2019 @ 10:57 pm By JD Alois  |  

There has been a good amount of discussion regarding the decision by Judge Gonzalo Curiel, of the US District Court for the Southern District of California, to grant the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) bid for a preliminary injunction against crypto company Blockvest LLC. Initially, the Court… Read More

February 15, 2019 @ 8:46 am By JD Alois  |  

In a valentine’s day reprieve, the Securities and Exchange Commission was granted a preliminary injunction against Blockvest LLC and its founder, Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III, pertaining to allegations of fraud connected with an initial coin offering (ICO). The judge overseeing the proceedings reconsidered the court’s previous order… Read More

February 4, 2019 @ 12:00 pm By Onki Kwan  |  

Kik Interactive Inc. (“Kik”), a company based in Canada, raised close to $100 million selling Kin tokens during the initial coin offering (ICO) boom of 2017, making it one of the most successful ICOs. It first sold tokens to accredited investors through a SAFT (Simple… Read More

February 3, 2019 @ 2:16 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Coinpulse, a “community-based” cryptocurrency exchange launched at the end of June 2018, has published an “urgent notice” advising all users to withdraw their tokens by February 7th, 2019, when the exchange will be closed for “maintenance until further notice.” The January 31, 2019, notice states… Read More

January 29, 2019 @ 9:30 am By JD Alois  |  

In a report this past weekend, Kik – a Canada based company, indicated its intent to battle an anticipated enforcement action by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to WSJ.com, Kik is willing to go to the mat with the Commission in the… Read More

January 26, 2019 @ 8:44 am By Cali Haan  |  

Moshe Hogeg, a high-profile Israeli crypto startup founder (Invest.com, Stox, Sirin Labs) previously sued by Invest.com investors, is now being sued by a Chinese cryptocurrency investor who claims Hogeg has been misusing funds he raised in an initial coin offering (ICO) for the creation of… Read More

January 15, 2019 @ 8:18 pm By JD Alois  |  

Last week, it was picked up by Crunchbase that Wefunder, a Reg CF crowdfunding portal, has closed on a $1.7 million Series A funding round. Depending exactly how you measure it, Wefunder is a top portal providing access to capital for mainly smaller firms. Wefunder… Read More

January 2, 2019 @ 12:15 pm By Cali Haan  |  

A Happy New Year, indeed. Paragon Coin (PRG), the crypto token of a “cannabis on blockchain” project sanctioned in November by the SEC, pumped 6800% overnight on New Year’s Eve on the Russian crypto exchange Yobit. When PRG holders woke up in the new year,… Read More