High-profile boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled have been dismissed from a lawsuit brought by investors in a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO,) according to a court document filed on May 13. The celebrities had been involved in promoting Centra Tech’s ICO — but a judge has ruled that the investors who brought the legal action failed to prove they bought tokens as a direct result of the pair’s actions. According to the court document, Mayweather had posted tweets of himself holding the startup’s debit card along with the caption: “Spending bitcoins Ethereum and other types of cryptocurrency …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation Valerie Szczepanik said that platforms seeking to list initial exchange offering (IEO) tokens for a fee could find themselves in regulatory trouble. Szczepanik delivered her comments at the Consensus 2019 conference on May 13. Speaking on IEO, Szczepanik — also known as the commission’s “crypto czar” — argued that platforms seeking to list IEO tokens for a fee and attract buyers for an issuer are likely engaging in broker-dealer activity. Szczepanik said: “If they are not registered they will find themselves in trouble in the U.S., …

Ground X, the blockchain arm of South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp, has announced the launch date of its own blockchain platform, a Cointelegraph correspondent learned at Consensus 2019 on May 13. Per the announcement, the Klaytn mainnet will launch on June 27, 2019, and will purportedly be a major driver of blockchain adoption in the country. Kakao has a 96% market share in South Korea, with a presence in messaging, gaming, content services, financial services and mobility services. Kakao announced its intention of launching a blockchain platform last March, and released a testnet version of Klaytn in October. The …

The initial coin offerings (ICO) market is down 97% on a year-on-year basis making $40 million so far in 2019, according to research by cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX released on May 13. In the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, the ICO market has reportedly dropped by 97% based on the amount of attracted capital. The slump followed the 2017–2018 cryptocurrency boom, with low investment returns among ICOs through most of 2018. Per the report, the top 10 ICO projects in terms of capital raised in 2018 were EOS, Telegram, blockchain-based cloud computing project Dfinity, blockchain-based digital bank Bankera, t0, Basis, blockchain …

Ads pertaining to blockchain tech, industry news, as well as events and educational materials for cryptocurrencies can now be displayed on Facebook without prior approval. The social media giant announced the development on Facebook Business on May 8. This marks a change from last year, when Facebook implemented a policy that required crypto and blockchain promoters to get prior consent before they could run advertisements. The press release goes on to specify that this change will not apply to advertisements that seek to promote a particular cryptocurrency, and ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs) remain forbidden. The stated purpose of …

Zhao Dong, a shareholder of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, has released new promotional material detailing the exchange’s upcoming initial exchange offering (IEO) for up to $1 billion. The information was shared in a tweet from Dong on May 4. The document, allegedly released by iFinex — the company behind Bitfinex and Tether (USDT) — announces the availability of up to 1 billion USDT worth of the exchange’s tokens, dubbed LEO, for purchase. The token described in the marketing document — which specifies that it is not a white paper — is intended to be the utility token at the heart of …

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been the world’s biggest contributor to crypto token sales so far this year, according to data recently released by CoinSchedule. More than 25% of funds raised since the start of 2019 — $210.5 million — have come from the Gulf nation. The Cayman Islands came second with $103.8 million, with Singapore third with $89.7 million. While the United States has long dominated token sales, the data shows it has fallen to sixth place in terms of the funds raised since January. U.S. investors have pledged $37.2 million to token sales — a fifth of …

The Ministry of Finance in Austria is considering establishing a regulatory sandbox for the fintech industry, Cointelegraph auf Deutsch reports on April 26. The country’s Finance Minister Hartwig Loeger said that the FinTech Advisory Council — which was formed by the Ministry of Finance last year — will aid in the development of relevant rules to steer the “young financial market around digitized financial services,” including initial coin offerings (ICOs) and digital currencies to facilitate their growth. State Secretary Hubert Fuchs said: “For some companies in the fintech industry, it is particularly difficult to keep track of all regulatory requirements …

Malta's financial regulator has issued a note to the public regarding the risks of crypto assets and the possibility for scams, news outlet Times of Malta reported on April 25. The Malta Financial Services Authority’s (MFSA) new guidance note intends to warn the public about cryptocurrency investments and related risks, and educate people on how to identify and avoid scams and fraudulent schemes. The guidance reportedly outlines the most common types of digital currency-associated scams, which include fake iInitial coin offerings (ICOs), crowdfunding ventures promising higher gains which are availed of once the coin becomes active, and fake exchange platforms …

White paper writers are earning up to $50,000 per job, according to a Decrypt investigation published on April 22— but the freelancers involved have accused some startups of misleading investors. The writers told the website as part of its two-week investigation that completing a paper can take up to eight months and cost between $1,000 and $50,000, with most of the work found via platforms such as LinkedIn and Upwork. Many of those interviewed alleged they were “constantly required to fabricate and exaggerate facts.” Adefemi Yusuff Adegoke, one white paper writer, noted that some startup figures amount to fraud — …

Since July, Thailand and its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have voiced their intent to legalize the local initial coin offering (ICO) market and open it to startups. On Dec. 1, 2018, however, Cointelegraph reported that the Thai SEC declared Thai-related security token offerings (STOs) in international markets to be illegal and said that it will take appropriate legal action against companies that attempt to distribute STOs created in Thailand to overseas markets. Tipsuda Thavaramara, the deputy secretary of the Thai SEC, reportedly said: “The regulator will have to consider how to deal with STOs for issues such as share …

Chinese cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io saw almost $3 billion worth of orders placed during the first phase of its in-house token sale, the company confirmed in a blog post on April 14. Gate, which offers cryptocurrency-only trading, is currently raising funds to support its projects through the issuance of Gatechain Tokens (GT), which users will ultimately be able to use for trading fee payments. The tokens do not yet exist, the exchange currently offering so-called “Gate.io POINTs” in the ongoing sale, which will be exchangeable for GT at a maximum rate of 2.5:1. Trading fees for phase one totalled $64 million, …