The SEC’s recent inquiry into the Tim Draper-backed DeFi Money Market platform is the most recent example in a concerning trend of increasing action by regulators against unregistered securities. As a result of regulatory inquiries, DMM is ceasing operations. mTokens can be redeemed with interest accrued to-date through the following link: https://t.co/mWB1WacKaH — DMM DAO (@DMMDAO) February 5, 2021 It joins Kik Interactive, Ripple and Coinseed as crypto projects facing the wrath of regulators under aspects of securities law. The mystery behind DeFi Money Market’s abrupt closure on Feb. 5 was unveiled in the project’s official Telegram channel on Feb. …

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has revealed the firm unsuccessfully attempted to settle its securities violation lawsuit with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and slammed the “regulatory chaos” around cryptocurrencies. I’m not going to litigate the SEC’s unproven allegations on Twitter, and as you can imagine, there are new considerations to what can / should be said publicly after the litigation process starts. However, I would like to address 5 key questions I’ve seen. 1/10 — Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) January 7, 2021 In a Twitter thread addressing what he described as “5 key questions,” the CEO strongly denied the …

The Enforcement Division of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has collected more than $4.68 billion in illegal income and fines this year so far — with more than one quarter coming from Telegram’s ill-fated Gram token sale alone. In total, around $1.26 billion was handed over to the SEC by unregistered initial coin offerings. SEC Division of Enforcement Director Stephanie Avakian stated: “The Commission obtained judgments and orders totaling approximately $4.68 billion in disgorgement and penalties – the highest amount on record.” The division’s annual report for the 2020 fiscal year, published earlier this month, provides a comprehensive overview …

On Wednesday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission announced the end of its lawsuit against Kik Interactive. The Canadian messenger app fell afoul of the U.S. regulator for failing to treat its sale of KIN tokens as a securities offering. A district judge confirmed the SEC’s view at the end of September, but only today did the court see the final judgment. As a result of today’s judgment, Kik will need to pay the SEC $5 million in penalties and keep the commission posted as to any capital raises for the next three years. Given that Kik was a …

On the last day of September 2020, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein dashed the hopes of Kik Interactive, crypto entrepreneurs and Simple Agreement for Future Tokens, or SAFT, proponents in general by ruling in favor of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment in SEC v. Kik Interactive. The case was instigated by the SEC in June 2019 when the SEC filed an enforcement action against Kik Interactive Inc., (referred to in the complaint and here as Kik), a social media company that had used SAFT to launch its “Kin” crypto token in September 2017. Related: Does Kik stand …

U.S. District Judge Alvin Kellerstein has sided with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), ruling that the Canadian technology firm Kik’s $100 million initial coin offering (ICO) violated federal securities laws. On September 30, Judge Kellerstein responded to both parties’ requests for summary judgment, determining that Kik’s 2017 token sale meets the definition of a securities issuance according to the Howey test, as the ICO participants had a reasonable expectation of profit. “In public statements and at public events promoting Kin, Kik extolled Kin’s profit-making potential. Kik’s CEO explained the role of supply and demand in driving the value …

On June 18, a user posted a link to a court document that accuses Kik of facilitating the exchange of child porn on the Kin Foundation’s subreddit. The link was then crossposted to Solana’s subreddit. Moderators for both subreddits subsequently removed the posts. Cointelegraph contacted the moderators of both subreddits on June 22, but received no explanation. Solana’s subreddit moderators later deleted Cointelegraph’s public inquiry, as shown by the Reddit anti-censorship tool, Snew. Kik is in the midst of a sex trafficking lawsuit Removeddit is a content retrieval service that caches Reddit posts before they are removed. We can see …

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s vigor in pursuing initial coin offerings, or ICOs, has become a major boogeyman within the crypto community. Most recently, the case against Telegram ended with that company abandoning its planned open network and Gram tokens, which raised $1.7 billion. The question before the crypto community is now: Have we witnessed the death of the ICO? The answer is yes, in that, with all due fear of predictions, we will never see the likes of 2017’s ICO boom again. That vision of an ICO is indeed dead. This is not the end for new …

A new round of documents have been filed in the lengthy dispute between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and Kik Interactive Inc. over the messaging company’s 2017 initial coin offering, or ICO. Both parties are seeking summary judgment, with the SEC submitting a proposed order that it hopes the court will sign. However, Kik is confident that the judge will rule in its favor, asserting that the SEC’s argument rests heavily on construing the Telegram case as precedent. SEC proposes summary judgment order The SEC filed a proposed order on May 8 outlining its request for …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and Kik Interactive have both filed oppositions to each other's motions for summary judgment on April 24. While Kik claims its offerings were exempt from registration requirements, the SEC asserts Kik’s 2017 initial coin offering (ICO) comprised a clear violation of securities laws. Kik and SEC battle it out over Howey Test Kik maintains that the SEC has failed to provide sufficient evidence that it cultivated the expectation of profits among its customers, or that Kik’s investors entered into a common enterprise with the company — two of the Howey Test’s three …

The United States-based Blockchain Association has filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Canadian messenger Kik amid the firm’s legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The association addressed the April 17 brief to the court which is considering the case, asking it to deny the SEC’s motion for summary judgment and decide the case narrowly to avoid casting doubt on cryptocurrency projects that have yet to appear before the court. In March, the SEC requested summary judgment, claiming that it possessed “undisputed evidence” that Kik’s ICO distributed unlicensed securities. Not the same as Telegram’s case Basically, the …

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 …