In its official announcement released on 20 November, the Colorado Division of Securities has placed orders to cease four initial coin offerings (ICOs) that were found to have violated securities laws.
Since the start of investigations by the division’s dedicated ICO Task Force, Colorado Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome has issued a total of 24 cease and desist orders, including these latest ones. The announcement also said that two more ICOs are in line for the same.
The platforms have been identified as Global Pay Net, CrowdShare Mining, CyberSmart Coin Invest and Credits LLC. All four were available to residents of Colorado and, therefore, in violation of local securities laws.
Two of the platforms were also found guilty of dubious and misleading marketing practices. CrowdShare Mining promising investors “at least 1,000%” return on a 4-year investment plan by holding on to its tokens. Global Pay Net marketed that “investors receive 80% of the company’s profits”.
Commissioner Rome pointed out that the high number of cease orders being sent should be a red flaf and “that there is a real risk that the ICO you are considering is a fraud”.
Colorado is not the only state sending out cease and desist orders. On 19 November, the North Dakota Securities Commissioner issued an order against a Russian-based ICO that used an account with Liechtenstein Union Bank. The same day in Europe, Italian regulator, the Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa struck down three crypto platforms found to be violating local laws since they failed to sign up as financial intermediaries.
According to University of British Columbia, ICOs all around the world are now increasingly facing pressure from different jurisdictions to comply with regulations and laws. Many token issuers bypass these to “reach a distributed pool of investors”.
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