2018 witnessed a significant uptick in the number of initial coin offerings (ICOs) authorized by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sell securities to large-scale investors, according to financial news channel MarketWatch, Jan. 11. MarketWatch reportedly compiled its data for 2018 by searching the SEC’s Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system for keywords such as “coin,” “ICO,” “token,” “initial coin offering” and “saft.” Their research reportedly found 287 results for evidently ICO-related fundraisings that were accepted by the agency to offer securities under what is known as a Form D exemption. Form D is essentially …

The board of directors of cryptocurrency and e-commerce startup Zwoop reportedly filed for administration at the end of November last year. The news was revealed in an exclusive article by major United Kingdom-based newspaper The Telegraph, Jan. 11. According to anonymous sources cited in a report by tech news outlet The Next Web, this move has left employees and suppliers of the company with unpaid wages and bills. Namely, the company allegedly owes one London-based marketing agency £42,000 (about $53,858) and a public relations firm £30,000 (about $38,470). Zwoop — reportedly founded by Italian entrepreneur Alessandro Gadotti and raised $13 …

Blockchain-based prediction market Augur is reportedly significantly overestimating its usage, a founding partner of cryptocurrency hedge fund Tetras Capital claimed on social media on Jan. 10. The latest criticism of the project, Alex Sunnarborg took Augur to task following publication of its most recent weekly report showing the amount of money circulating within its markets. Specifically, the report claims around $2 million is currently involved in wagers set up by users. Sunnarborg, however, notes the figure includes wagers which have already closed. “Augur metrics showing ~$2 (million) ‘total money at stake’ include markets that have already ended,” he tweeted, adding: …

United States financial research company FactSet has filed a lawsuit against a company affiliated with professional trading service Blockchain Terminal (BCT), according to documents published by the Supreme Court for the State of New York County, Jan. 3. As stated in the lawsuit, in January, 2018, FactSet and the defendant — CG Blockchain — entered into an agreement to develop an interfacing application between the two firms' products. FactSet also granted a license to CG to use its products. According to the documents, CG had agreed to pay a minimum licensing fee of about $3.8 million, payable in three increments. …

KodakONE — the developer of a blockchain-based image rights platform licensed by photographic industry giant Kodak — has reportedly generated over $1 million in licensing claims for image rights during a limited beta test of its platform. The news was reported by blockchain news source Breaker Mag on Jan. 8. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the KodakONE Image Rights Management Platform is an image copyright protection, monetization and distribution platform secured via blockchain. While the project is not run by the Eastman Kodak company itself, the industry stalwart has made RYDE Holding (formerly Wenn Digital) an official brand licensee. When Kodak …

Disclaimer: This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision. The ICO market data is provided by ICObench, based upon the projects’ announcements recorded in ICObench database, which includes over 5,100 ICOs since August 2015. In 2018, 2,284 initial coin offerings (ICOs) reached their conclusion and investors could choose, on average, among 482 token sales opening every day of the year. During 2017, the corresponding values were just 966 and 91 ICOs respectively. However, the economic results are less impressive: The total amount …

The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission (PSEC) is not ready to issue final initial coin offering (ICO) regulation. The legislation was meant to be released before the end of 2018, English-language local media The Philippine Star reports on Dec. 31. The aforementioned article attributes the delay of the release to a request by different stakeholders for further time to look at the draft ICO rules. The PSEC has reportedly revised anew the proposed regulation by taking into account different shareholders’ input. In the draft guidelines, the regulatory body established that the tokens emitted during an ICO may be classified as …

Perceptions of Bitcoin (BTC) versus altcoins changed forever in 2018, as the largest cryptocurrency separated itself from the rest, Bitcoin developer Jimmy Song wrote in a blog post on Dec. 31. An ardent defender of Bitcoin’s decentralized values, Song, who is also a frequent social media commentator, argued that last year “showed [...] what Bitcoin Maximalists have been saying all along.” “Bitcoin is different because Bitcoin is decentralized,” he summarized, adding: “The advantages of decentralization are often subtle and easy to dismiss, but they are real benefits.” One of many sources to have criticized the initial coin offerings (ICO) market …

The Iranian government has taken further steps against Telegram’s cryptocurrency development, the Tehran Times reports Dec. 31. Secretary of the Criminal Content Definition Task Force Javad Javidnia has declared that any cooperation with the encrypted messaging app to launch its Gram token will be considered an act against national security and a disruption to the national economy. Javidnia stated: “One of the most important factors in banning Telegram was a sense of serious economic threat from its activities, which was unfortunately marginalized and neglected due to the fuss in the political atmosphere of the country.” Iran first banned the app …

Top Stories This Week Nvidia Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Losses After Lower GPU Mining Demand Graphics processing unit (GPU) producer Nvidia is currently facing a class action lawsuit over losses that the company reported when lower crypto prices lowered demand for GPUs by miners. The Schall law firm announced the lawsuit this week, with the complaint alleging that Nvidia made false and misleading statements to the market. Schall noted that since the GPU producer claimed that drop off in demand for GPU on miners would not negatively affect the business, the lawsuit has merit. Altcoin Bitcoin Private Team Confirms …

Recent research by the Wall Street Journal published Dec. 27 revealed that hundreds of cryptocurrency offerings showed signs of fraudulent activity, improbable returns and plagiarism. In the course of its research, the WSJ downloaded “white papers” of 3,291 cryptocurrency projects that announced an initial coin offering (ICO) from three websites — ICOBench.com, Tokendata.io and ICORating.com. A white paper is an informational document issued by a company that describes the company’s position, team biography, and technical specifics of a project, and is designed to be used as a marketing tool for potential investors. The reporters further conducted an analysis of the …

Initial coin offerings (ICO) will return within “18 months” and Ethereum (ETH) will “rebound aggressively,” BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes told Cointelegraph Japan Dec. 26. BitMEX is a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency trading platform that has become one of the largest trading platforms in the world by volume. Speaking in an exclusive interview, Hayes forecast a return to form for 2018’s “dead” ICO markets. “The use case for Ether is primarily ICOs. That market is dead right now,” he said, adding: “Once there are new issues, then Ether will rebound aggressively. When the ICO market returns, Ether will quickly test $200. The timing …