Where Technology Meets Law

2020/10/05

John McAfee is charged by the SEC

The SEC charged John McAfee, a prominent supporter of the ICOs, for promoting investments into various tokens without the disclosure that he was paid to do so. […]
2020/06/26

$1.2 billion has to be returned to investors by Telegram

Telegram is blocked by the U.S. District Court from distributing its token Gram to investors and to return over $1.2 billion. […]
2020/05/28

Another California company is ordered to return money to investors

The SEC continues to investigate companies that conducted ICOs in 2017 and 2018. Recently, the SEC brought charges against BitClave PTE Ltd., which had an ICO of the Cat token in the second quarter of 2017. […]
2019/11/14

SEC obtained a $9.5 million judgment to protect VERI investors

A good victory for the SEC against Veritaseum, Inc., Veritaseum, LLC and Reginals Middleton, their owner, came in a form of the final judgement ordering a payment of nearly $9.5 million. […]
2019/09/30

The name of Blockchain Law Group is being misused by fraudsters

We became aware that the name of law firm Blockchain Law Group and its founder Katrina Arden, who is a licensed attorney, is being used in connection with the false claims of ICO escrow. […]
2019/06/04

Fraudulent ICO of Kin by Kik Interactive

The SEC filed a complaint against Kik Interactive for a sale of unregistered securities named “Kin” to the U.S. investors for a profit exceeding $55 million dollars. […]
2019/05/21

Diamond business ICO and Ponzi scheme halted by the SEC

The SEC obtained a court order against Natural Diamonds Investment Co., its founders, and other related parties halting an alleged $30 million Ponzi scheme conducted with the use of fraudulent ICO. […]
2019/04/30

The SEC issues another warning to investors on the SEC approved offerings

The SEC Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an investor alert warning the investors against false statements regarding the SEC “approved” issuance of securities. […]
2018/11/11

SEC and CFTC jointly warn investors about their endorsements of ICOs

Due to an increased number of fraudulent claims made by various companies that the SEC and CFTC support or endorse their ICOs, both agencies joined the forces to issue a public warning explaining how this is used to mislead the investors. […]
2018/10/11

SEC halts scam ICO that claimed SEC approval

Today the SEC announced that it has obtained a court order halting a planned ICO and an ongoing pre-ICO of Blockvest, LLC and its founder Reginald Buddy Ringgold, III (aka Rasool Abdul Rahim El). […]
2018/07/02

SEC charges a lawyer with illegal sale of blockchain company stock

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged two men for alleged profiting from illegal sales of stock of a company claiming to have a blockchain-related business. […]
2018/05/29

SEC obtains emergency order halting ICO due to fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order against Titanium Blockchain Infrastructure Services Inc., halting its ICO that raised as much as $21 million from investors in and outside the U.S. for alleged fraud. […]
2018/05/16

The SEC has an opportunity you won't want to miss: act now!

Today, the SEC made a press release under the above-referenced title and invited public to visit a website HoweyCoin.com to “buy into a hot investment opportunity linked with luxury travel,” by participating in the ICO conducted by the SEC […]
2018/04/04

A fraudulent scheme is alleged by the SEC in the Centra ICO

On April 2, 2018, Sohrab “Sam” Sharma and Robert Farkas, co-founders of Centra Tech, Inc. were arrested and charged with violation […]
2018/03/27

Smart contracts are legally enforceable in Tennessee now

The State of Tennessee has officially recognized blockchain technology and smart contracts by giving it official status in relation to […]
2018/03/19

President Trump bans Venezuela cryptocurrency within the U.S.

As part of the U.S. sanction against Venezuela, the President’s executive order prohibits any transactions involving the digital curr […]
2018/03/12

SEC is conducting dozens investigations of the ICOs

In the recent months, the SEC issued dozens of subpoenas to companies, which conducted their ICOs last year and earlier this year to pr […]
2018/03/07

Tokens selling platforms may be breaking law

As the SEC is conducting numerous ICO investigations, the cryptocurrency exchanges, which offer to buy, sell and trade tokens are also […]
2018/02/21

SEC brings fraud charges against BitFunder

In the complaint brought by the SEC, the federal agency alleged that BitFunder and its founder Jon E. Montroll violated the anti-fraud […]
2018/02/06

SEC Chairman Clayton spoke about crypto

On February 6, 2018, SEC Chairman Jay Clayton spoke about virtual currencies before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affair […]
2018/01/31

Another ICO is halted by the SEC for alleged fraud

The SEC obtained a court order to halt an allegedly fraudulent ICO of AriseBank, which purported to be the first “decentralized bank“ […]
2018/01/19

SEC and CFTC join forces to combat crypto fraud

Today, the SEC Co-Enforcement Directors Stephanie Avakian and Steven Peikin and CFTC Enforcement Director James McDonald issued a joint […]
2018/01/12

Is the SAFT (SAFE) truly safe to use for the sale of tokens?

The Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) was specifically created and intended to be used by enterprises to sell digital tokens to […]
2017/12/12

SEC issued a Cease-and-Desist Order to halt the Munchee ICO

The SEC has issued a Cease-and-Desist Order in regards to the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of the MUN token created by Munchee, Inc., a […]
2017/12/11

SEC published Statement on Crypto and ICO

The SEC just published an informative Statement on Cryptocurrencies and Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) reviewing the rapidly growing mar […]
2017/12/04

SEC halts the ICO of PlexCoin for alleged fraud

The SEC filed charges against PlexCorps founded by Dominic Lacroix, a Canadian resident who already violated the securities law previou […]
2017/11/10

Understanding the nature of ICO escrow

There had been a number of cases when people behind the ICO simply run away with the proceeds and purchasers received no tokens. Using escrow helps to avoid this situation. […]
2017/11/01

Legality of the celebrities advertising of the ICOs

The SEC issued a press-release warning against the celebrities advertising of the ICOs because more and more celebrities are starting t […]
2017/10/20

Regulation of ICO: what each company must know to comply

There have been many articles written about an ICO process being an unregulated activity, which led many startups to believe that raisi […]
2017/09/29

EC brings charges against a promoter of an ICO in the U.S.

Today, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged one individual and two companies with the sale of unregistered securities and […]
2017/09/15

How to do ICO correctly and what mistakes to avoid

Recently, there have been many announcements made by authorities of various countries in regards to the ICO and digital tokens. Most of […]
2017/09/05

Hong Kong makes a statement in Initial Coin Offerings (ICO)

Following the United States and other countries, the authorities of Hong Kong made a statement on the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) tod […]
2017/09/01

Common mistakes when buying tokens

The growing crypto market is seeing more and more offerings of tokens, often called Initial Token Offerings (ITO), Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) or alike. Many consider this emerging technology unregulated. […]
2017/08/28

SEC goes after public companies for referencing ICO

The SEC suspended trading of common stocks of the publicly traded companies First Bitcoin Capital Corp., CIAO Group, Strategic Global […]
2017/08/21

Chinese authorities banned fundraising via ICO

Today, the Chinese authorities made an official ICO related statement, which brought panic to the market and provoked a number of news […]
2017/08/01

Challenges in selling securities tokens via ICO

The blockchain technology allowed companies to raise capital faster and less costly. However, the greatest advantage is that a company […]
2017/07/25

SEC has concluded that The DAO tokens were securities

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a very important Investigative Report today, concluding that the securities law of […]
2017/07/25

SEC issues Investor Bulletin warning about ICO

Following the investigation of The DAO, the SEC issued an Investors Bulletin, which explained the nature of the Initial Coin Offering a […]

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