Major Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck is considering launching an initial exchange offering (IEO) platform for raising funds through utility tokens. The platform Acquired by Japanese financial services firm Monex Group in April 2018, Coincheck hinted at its plans to establish an IEO business in a recent public announcement, Cointelegraph Japan reported on Aug. 22. According to the report, Coincheck has started investigating fundraising opportunities based on utility tokens, claiming that IEOs are gaining more global attention and ensures more reliability as a method of securing funds. In a public statement, Coincheck said that it is targeting companies and projects that …

The United States District Court for the Central District of California has issued a summons to video game virtual goods company OPSkins Group and Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) in response to a complaint filed by Crypto Asset Fund. The allegations On Aug. 15, the court issued a summons to OPSkins Group, WAX and several of their high-level employees in response to a civil complaint filed on Aug. 12 by Crypto Asset Fund and affiliate Digital Capital Management. The complaint included 12 charges — including fraud, unlawful business practices and violation of the Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934. In particular, …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Russian analytical agency ICO Rating for $268,998 for violating anti-touting provisions, according to an announcement on Aug. 20. In the announcement, the SEC claimed that ICO Rating violated the anti-touting provisions of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933 by failing to disclose payments it received from initial coin offering (ICO) issuers it rated and published on its platform. Melissa Hodgman, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said: “The securities laws require promoters, including both people and entities, to disclose compensation they receive for touting investments so that …

The chief defendant in an alleged $15 million initial coin offering (ICO) fraud case has submitted a formal reply to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On Aug. 20, Reginald Middleton shared a copy of a memorandum of law against the agency’s application for a preliminary injunction to continue a temporary asset freeze against him and affiliated entities. As reported, the SEC’s injunction implicated Middleton, together with the New York company Veritaseum Inc. and the Delaware-based company Veritaseum LLC. The case The SEC’s case against Middleton and Veritaseum alleges that material misrepresentations and omissions were made to investors …

Ethereum-based layer-two blockchain scaling platform nahmii has onboarded the Norwegian Block Exchange (NBX) as the first member of its governing association, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 16. Created by Hubii, nahmii is designed to solve the transaction speed issue on the Ethereum network, which can reportedly manage only 15 transactions per second. This, the release notes, makes Ethereum unsuitable for large-scale commercial deployment. Explaining the principle behind its solution, nahmii said: “Nahmii fixes that by moving transactions away from the main chain to a second network that sits on top of the main Ethereum chain. …

South Korea’s “Bit-Island” Jeju announced the Blockchain Hub City Development Research Service on Aug. 13. An island with blockchain ambitions Local news outlet JejuDomin reported on Aug. 14 that Jeju announced the Blockchain Hub City Development Research Service on Aug. 13. Furthermore, the author of the report stated that cloud services provider Tilon will carry the research. Per the report, the budget meant to cover the costs of the project amounts to 175 million won (nearly $145,000). In April local news outlet BusinessKorea reported that Busan — South Korea’s second most populous city — has been picked over Jeju as …

As the appeal of cryptocurrency has grown, so has the opportunity for scammers to part naive investors from their money. 2019 has been no exception, with cryptocurrency and blockchain forensics company Ciphertrace dubbing it “the year of the exit scam.” Exit scams are not a new phenomenon, with a 2018 report conducted by Statis Group revealing over 80% of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in that year to have been fraudulent. Here, Cointelegraph explains exit scams and how to spot them, as well as a look at some of the biggest scams that have been discovered by various researchers. What are …

Leading Latin America investment bank BTG Pactual joined the organizing committee of the Post-Trade Distributed Ledger (PTDL) Group. Alliance for blockchain use Industry news outlet LedgerInsights reported on Aug. 15 that Brazil-based bank BTG Pactual joined PTDL Group’s organizing committee. PTDL Group reportedly provides a platform allowing market participants to share information on blockchain and discuss applications in the financial services sector. According to its official website, PTDL Group includes nearly 40 financial institutions and prominent market infrastructure players. The organization also claims that it is playing a role in shaping the recommendations of regulators. Namely: “Practitioners, regulators, and central …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with PlexCorps owner Dominique Lacroix, business partner Sabrina Paradis-Royer and PlexCorps over an allegedly fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO). The SEC submitted its settlement agreement to a U.S. District Court in Brooklyn on Aug. 12. According to the filing, the defendants will collectively be fined nearly $7 million as part of the settlement agreement. The SEC concluded that the defendants raised $8,269,218 through the PlexCoin ICO. The agreement further states that the defendants will pay 55% of the funds raised in the ICO — approximately $4.5 …

The attorney general of Maryland announced that the state is participating in Operation Cryptosweep. Maryland attorney general Brian E. Frosh announced that state regulators would be participating in the initiative in a press release published on Aug. 14. Operation Cryptosweep is a joint initiative of state and provincial securities regulators in the United States and Canada, wherein they launched probes into potentially fraudulent or noncompliant crypto investment programs. The initiative targeting suspicious crypto investment products is reportedly the largest such coordinated investigation by state and provincial officials. In the press release, Frosh revealed that the Maryland Securities Division is participating …

A New England-based firm has settled with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over an allegedly unregistered $6.3 million initial coin offering (ICO). According to an SEC announcement published on Aug. 12, SimplyVital Health, Inc. announced plans to conduct an ICO in order to secure funds for a healthcare-related blockchain ecosystem dubbed Health Nexus in 2017. The company offered a native token for Health Nexus called Health Cash (HLTH). The company purportedly announced a pre-sale of HLTH tokens under Simple Agreements for Future Tokens (SAFTs) that were set to be delivered to investors once they were created by …

A United States District Court has entered an emergency freeze to preserve $8 million of a New York citizen and two of his entities’ related assets following the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) complaint filed on Aug. 12. Per the SEC's announcement published on Aug. 13, the court ordered the temporary freeze of at least $8 million of the $14.8 million raised by the defendants. The sum was reportedly raised by Reginald Middleton and two entities under his management, Veritaseum, Inc. and Veritaseum, LLC, in 2017 and 2018 by conducting an allegedly fraudulent and unregistered initial coin offering. The …