New research has shed more light on the crypto industry’s largest-ever token sale, alleging that foul play may have been afoot during EOS’ initial coin offering (ICO) four years ago. Researchers from the University of Texas have raised fresh concerns regarding Block.one’s record $4.362-billion ICO for the EOS blockchain in 2017 and 2018. The highly-anticipated project was backed by industry heavyweights, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, alongside billionaire hedge fund managers Alan Howard and Louis Bacon. The research does not accuse Block.one itself of any wrongdoing, and the company has cited a report stating there was no evidence it was …

Blockchain Australia, an association representing the local crypto industry, has warned that the country has fallen behind on the regulatory front due to the undue persistence of a dismissive “wild west” narrative. The association has been proactive in its engagement with the state in recent months as the government continues to review the future of blockchain and fintech and regulation in the country. Appearing before the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre last week, Blockchain Australia CEO Steve Vallas said that the association strongly resists the notion that the crypto space remains “a bit of …

Powers On... is a monthly opinion column from Marc Powers, who spent much of his 40-year legal career working with complex securities-related cases in the United States after a stint with the SEC. He is now an adjunct professor at Florida International University College of Law, where he teaches a course on “Blockchain, Crypto and Regulatory Considerations.” Well, well, well. It seems that some of those class-action law firms that ferret out possible securities claims in search of fees and recovery for investors, sometimes wrapped self-righteously in the flag of investor harm and rights, are properly receiving a cold shoulder …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against the defunct initial coin offering (ICO) review website Coinschedule.com for violating the anti-touting provisions of federal securities laws. But two SEC commissioners have penned an open letter in response, saying the settlement highlights flaws with the commission’s processes. According to a Wednesday release from the securities regulator, Coinschedule failed to disclose it was receiving compensation from digital asset issuers for favorable reviews. The settlement’s terms state that Blotics, formerly known as Coinschedule, must pay a penalty of $154,434 plus $43,000 in disgorgement plus interest, without admitting or denying the SEC’s …

Los Angeles-based rapper The Game, also known as Jayceon Taylor, is facing a $12 million judgment for his role in Paragon Coin Inc — a crypto firm alleged to have engaged in an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) four years ago. Taylor publicly endorsed the Paragon Coin ICO on social media back in 2017. Paragon touted its PRG tokens as a currency for the cannabis industry and raised $70 million from the public between April 15, 2017, and Oct. 15, 2017. Plaintiffs’ first filed a complaint against the offering in 2018, however, Tyler was initially let off the hook as …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, has charged a cryptocurrency issuer for “making materially false and misleading statements” in connection with an unregistered security offering conducted between August 2017 and January 2018, offering further evidence that regulators were still targeting initial coin offerings from the last major market mania. Loci Inc., the platform behind LOCIcoin, and CEO John Wise were formally charged on Tuesday. The SEC claims that Loci and Wise misled investors about the company’s revenues, employee numbers and user base during the $7.6 million crowdsale. The regulator also alleges that Wise misused $38,163 in investor …

Coinseed, a crypto platform that enabled micro-investing in cryptocurrency assets for its users, has shut down its operations. Delgerdalai Davaasambuu, founder and CEO of Coinseed, announced the decision via a statement published on the platform’s website. Detailing his decision to shutter the business, Davaasambuu wrote: “It is with an incredibly heavy heart, today I’m announcing that I am winding down the business due to a lawsuit from the NYAG (New York Attorney General).” As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the Office of the New York State Attorney General brought fraud charges against Coinseed back in February. At the time, the NYAG …

An initial public offering is the classic way to take a company public, but many crypto companies bypass the regulatory scrutiny with a backdoor SPAC merger By Connor Sephton If you want to sell stock in an American company to the public, traditionally you hold an initial public offering, better known as an IPO. An IPO starts with the long, arduous, and expensive process of filing an S-1 Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Of course, the purpose of an S-1 is to make sure companies are disclosing everything the public needs to know to make an …

Initial DEX offerings are the new initial coin offerings. So, what’s the difference between an IDO and an ICO, other than that one letter? A lot actually. In some ways, ICOs and IDOs have more in common with each other than they do with initial exchange offerings, which have more than a few features of the traditional initial public offering of stock markets. While IDOs and IEOs are both listed directly on exchanges — decentralized exchanges, or DEXs, in the case of the former and centralized exchanges for the latter — IDOs are very much a do-it-yourself process like ICOs. …

Bull market cycles in the cryptocurrency market can be exhilarating for day traders and long-term investors alike, but the speed at which the prices move can make it a challenge for promising new projects that are looking to catch the momentum before the cycle plays itself out. This reality has led to some projects listed on exchanges in the form of token IOUs so that interested parties can get in on the trading action before the token is officially released. Polkadot (DOT) is one of the most well-known examples of a token that went through this process. Casper (CSPR), a …

It is a pivotal moment in the development of the new digital economy. Interest in all things crypto keeps growing exponentially, and investment follows closely. There has arguably never been so much money poured into a product class that was so poorly understood, both by the wider public and by most investors. In lieu of actual understanding, stakeholders in the crypto space have to operate on reputation and trust instead. This necessity has given rise to a dangerous new con. Unlike blatant scams like OneCoin or Bitconnect, today’s blockchain opportunists and confidence tricksters often play the faux science card. “Read …

The arrival of institutional investors and the rise of decentralized finance has been an incredible boon for the entire cryptocurrency sector, but it has also highlighted a number of persistent limitations that many blockchain networks encounter when faced with surges in activity and the need to scale. High fees and slower transaction times on the Ethereum network have left the door open for new layer-one solutions to emerge, and Solana is one such project that has been gaining traction lately. Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of Solana (SOL) has increased 195% over the past month, …