It’s April Fool’s day somewhere, or at least in CoinMarketCap’s neck of the woods, as the cryptocurrency data site saw massive volumes for new “Toilet Paper Token.” A website known for listing cryptocurrencies in order of market cap value, CoinMarketCap, listed Toilet Paper Token (TPT) as number “0” atop its list on March 31, showing a circulating supply of “out of stock.” Although it’s still March 31 in some parts of the world, the annual day of pranks has already reached parts of the Asia-Pacific. Source: CoinMarketCap.com Bringing a bit of light-heartedness during tough times April Fool’s day 2020 comes …

Although the Wild West of crypto historically has involved scams, hype and price gaming, those descriptors are now tacked onto another industry — the N95 face mask market. “Scrutiny surrounding these deals is high because of ongoing scams and claims of price-gouging, both of which are triggering emotionally charged reactions and fear of making deals,” Forbes contributor David DiSalvo wrote in a March 30 article on the coronavirus pandemic-induced N95 face mask mania. Out of context, however, DiSalvo’s quote very much describes the crypto space at times. The face mask market currently resembles horse-trading shenanigans DiSalvo described a day that …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has opposed Telegram’s request for clarity regarding the geographic scope of a court injunction barring the company from distributing its Gram (GRAM) tokens. In a letter to Judge Castel dated March 30, the SEC asserts that the injunction “unambiguously, and properly, applies to Telegram’s delivery of Grams to ‘any person or entity’ [...] and requires no clarification.” The Gram tokens correspond to the firm’s $1.7 billion initial coin offering that raised money to launch the Telegram Open Network — or TON — in 2018. SEC claims injunction unambiguously applies to “any person or …

How far can a preliminary injunction from an American court reach? The answer to that question is everything for Telegram’s embattled TON blockchain project. TON has been under legal fire since shortly after the SEC became aware of its token sale. The drama is ongoing as recently as this week, when a federal district court judge issued a preliminary injunction against Telegram for its ten-figure initial coin offering. The allegation is that Telegram’s GRAM token, operating on the TON blockchain, was illegally being sold as a security, and the judge effectively took the SEC’s side on the case. Filing an …

The upcoming trial of two men accused of running the fraudulent Centra Tech initial coin offering (ICO), which raised $60 million after soliciting celebrity endorsements in 2018, has been postponed until September 2020. On March 26, a U.S. district court published documents indicating that the trial of alleged Centra Tech operators, Sohrab Sharma and Robert Farkas, will be pushed from April 27 to Sep. 3 amid COVID-19 concerns. The documents were uploaded after a court teleconference on the same day. District judge prepares additional backup plans Noting concerns that other reschedulings may result in further delays to the trial, U.S. …

Telegram is seeking to appeal a United States federal court’s recent ruling in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission to halt distribution of GRAM tokens. Rejection of the injunction and the status of the investment contracts In response to the court’s preliminary injunction earlier the same day freezing GRAM issuance until at least the trial, Telegram filed a brief notice of appeal with the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The injunction itself tentatively agrees with the SEC’s argument that the contracts governing GRAM issuance — though critically, not necessarily GRAM tokens themselves — seem to qualify as …

A United States District Court has granted an injunction against Telegram, preventing the company from issuing its GRAM tokens at the present time. Court says that GRAMS are securities under Howey test Per a March 24 filing granting the Securities and Exchange Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction, the Court wrote that: “The Court finds that the SEC has shown a substantial likelihood of success in proving that the contracts and understandings at issue, including the sale of 2.9 billion Grams to 175 purchasers in exchange for $1.7 billion, are part of a larger scheme to distribute those Grams into …

Canadian messenger firm Kik is seeking pre-trial summary judgment in its legal dispute with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the company’s $100 million initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. On March 20, Kik submitted a memorandum of law requesting the summary judgment from the court, asserting that the SEC had failed to demonstrate that its KIN tokens comprised unlicensed securities. Kik expects legal victory with summary judgment Referring to its public sale as a token distribution event (TDE) rather than an ICO, Kik argues that its KIN tokens fail to meet two of the three requirements …

A report published by research firm CB Insights has found that equity funding has dramatically overtaken initial coin offerings (ICOs) as the dominant means of finance in the blockchain space. While the largely unregulated ICO boom of 2018 raised $7.8 billion, initial coin offering funding fell more than 95% to raise $371 million in 2019. By contrast, equity funding raised $2.8 billion last year. The report also notes the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi), noting that there are currently more than $1 billion in assets on DeFi platforms — up from $300 million as of January 2019. Crypto firms are …

The Tezos Foundation moved to settle its $25M consolidated class-action lawsuit on March 20, following more than two years of fighting in court. In a post on its website, the foundation claims to have chosen to settle due to the time and financial expense incurred through continuing proceedings. “It was decided that the one-time financial cost of a settlement was preferable to the distractions and legal costs associated with continuing to fight in the courts,” the foundation states. The settlement proceedings are currently pending court approval. Tezos denies any wrongdoing in $232 million ICO After conducting its then-record $232 million …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has requested an early summary judgment in its lawsuit against Kik over the messaging company’s $100 million KIN initial coin offering (ICO) during 2017. The SEC first brought its case against Kik in June 2019. The commission argued that the company’s ICO comprised a clear issuance of securities. While Kik has sought to claim that KIN comprises a currency and not a security, the SEC claims to have “undisputed evidence” to the contrary. The SEC states that: “Kik’s 2017 offer and sale of Kin was an offer and sale of investment contracts …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has frozen the assets of Meta 1 Coin, an alleged crypto scam backed by a former state senator that promised investors returns of up to 224,923% without ever having any actual tokens. Per a March 20 announcement from the SEC, the regulator initially froze Meta 1’s assets on March 16 and is charging the firm’s operators with fraud. Currently, the SEC seems to be pursuing fines and disgorgement rather than jailtime for those involved. Claims of art and gold assets Meta 1 claimed its tokens were backed, but the cited backing shifted …