OpenFinance announced earlier this week that it had launched the first US-based regulated security token trading platform. As has been discussed previously in this blog, although the U.S. SEC has not taken the position that every token sale and ICO qualifies as a security and must therefore be registered or fall under a recognized exemption, the SEC has taken actions and made statements that lead many to conclude that there is certainly risk in doing…
On August 17, the central district of Chaoyang in Beijing issued a notice telling hotels, shopping malls, and office buildings in the area to refrain from hosting cryptocurrency events. The same South China Morning Post article that confirmed the ban also reported that at least eight blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused online media outlets – some of which raised several million dollars in venture capital – found their official public accounts on WeChat blocked.
Unikrn is an esports gambling startup associated with that raised approximately $31 million through an initial coin offering (“ICO”) in October 2017. Mark Cuban was one of the notable investors in Unikrn. The company’s token, UnikoinGold, was marketed as a method of currency to be used on the Unikrn gambling platform, which allows users to bet on esports. At one point in early January UnikoinGold was worth as much as $2.47, though the tokens are…
On August 14, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) recently obtained permanent officer-and-director and penny stock bars against the founder of a company who perpetrated a fraudulent ICO to fund oil exploration and drilling in California. According to the SEC’s order, David T. Laurance and Tomahawk Exploration LLC attempted to raise money through the sale of blockchain-based digital tokens called “Tomahawkcoins.” The SEC’s order finds that the defendants’ promotional materials used inflated projections…
On August 12, SAMA, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, issued a Statement on its website warning against trading in virtual currencies because they are outside government supervision. The Statement said that ” that virtual currency including, for example but not limited to, the Bitcoins are illegal in the kingdom and no parties or individuals are licensed for such practices.” Interestingly, though, the warning did not identify the penalty for cryptocurrency trading.
The EU Blockchain Observatory & Forum (EBOF) launched in February 2018 has published its first thematic report outlining the current state of blockchain in Europe. It’s a pretty broad report, but does provide a helpful overview of progress to date and give some useful insight into the EU’s priorities. Europe: fertile ground for blockchain growth and innovation? EBOF views Europe as being in a prime position for blockchain technologies. The report outlines recent and ongoing…
Last Friday, August 3, Ohio became the latest U.S. state to formally recognize blockchain technology. Ohio’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act states that “a record or contract that is secured through blockchain technology is considered to be in an electronic form and to be an electronic record.” It also provides that, “[a] signature that is secured through blockchain technology is considered to be in an electronic form and to be an electronic signature.” While these two provisions…
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (“CommBank”) (Australia’s largest bank by market capitalisation) has recently confirmed that they have successfully applied blockchain and internet of things technology to a global trade shipment involving 17 tons of almonds. The almonds were shipped from Sunraysia, Australia to Hamburg, Germany. The other companies involved included the Port of Melbourne, Pacific National and Olam Orchards Australia Pty Ltd. CommBank used the Ethereum blockchain for the experiment because of its large…