Colorado State Securities Commissioner Gerald Rome has issued a cease and desist order to four Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) for allegedly offering unregistered securities, according to an official notice published Nov. 8. The orders come as part of a state operation by the “ICO Task Force” within the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), which in May of this year commenced investigations into potentially unlawful activity targeting cryptocurrency investors. With yesterday’s orders, DORA has now issued 12 cease and desist actions against ICOs. On Nov. 8, Rome signed four orders to Bitcoin Investments, Ltd. — which is also conducting business as …

Thailand’s securities regulator will clear “at least one” Initial Coin Offering (ICO) “portal” to operate legally in November, local daily news outlet Bangkok Post reported Nov. 8. Speaking to the publication, Rapee Sucharitakul, secretary general of the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that ICOs themselves could also start seeing official approval to serve Thai markets as soon as December. “At least one ICO portal will be certified in November, then we can approve each ICO offering, which might start in December,” he said. The confirmation marks the closing stages of Thailand’s final push to formalize cryptocurrency markets, which …

A Japan-based blockchain platform says the country’s beloved anime industry is at an impasse. While the number of global fans for this distinctive, inimitable animation style has been growing exponentially, artists face “a harsh work environment with very little incentive.” Twilight Coin fears that, if this trend continues, it is unavoidable that both the quality and quantity of Japan’s anime culture will start to go in decline. This is why it is offering a “creator to consumer” model which enables artists to connect directly with fans and receive funding for projects that everyone is passionate about. The company believes that …

China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), has widened its scrutiny to include token airdrops, which it characterized as “disguised” Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) in its 2018 financial stability report, published Nov. 2. Using by now familiar rhetoric, the report reiterates the bank’s stringently anti-ICO and crypto trading stance, defining the former as “illegal” fundraising, and pointing to the widespread risks of financial fraud and pyramid schemes. Signalling a new area of focus, the report warns that so-called “airdrops” are evading regulation around the public token sale model by issuing free assets to investors. According to the report, …

In the aftermath of September 2017’s historic ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), and the banishment of domestic crypto trading platforms, a resourceful crypto community was already showing signs of devising multiple means of circumventing the authorities’ increasingly draconian actions. Part two of Cointelegraph’s three-part series continues to investigate the factors that catapulted China’s regulators to redouble their efforts to curb the meteoric rise of crypto trades; their unprecedented actions to try to cut the country’s crypto mining titans down to size; the response of China’s tech triumvirate — Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu — to new constraints; and as ever, …

Israel-based projects have raised over $600 million through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) as of the third quarter (Q3) of 2018, according to report by cryptocurrency analytics firm One Alpha released Nov. 2. Per the research, 140 blockchain-focused companies in Israel have attracted $1.3 billion in investment, wherein more than 60 percent of companies and 88 percent of funds are ICO-related. From Q1– Q3 2018, Israeli startups raised $606 million through ICOs, wherein the largest number of ICOs took place during Q2, and Q1 was the most profitable, with $315 million raised through crypto-asset offerings. One Alpha notes that in 2017, …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Enforcement Division has released its annual enforcement report for the 2018 fiscal year (FY), Friday, Nov. 2. The report notes actions by the Division against fraudulent Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). According to the report, since the formation of the Division’s Cyber Unit at the end of FY 2017, the commission’s focus on cyber-related misconduct, including ICOs, has been growing steadily. The SEC attributes this to an “explosion” in crypto-asset offerings, which it says are often considered high-risk investments. According to the report: “In the past year, the Division has opened dozens of investigations …

The Ethereum (ETH) developer that co-authored the ERC-20 token standard has introduced a new model for Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), Czech business news outlet Kurzy reports Oct. 31. Speaking at Ethereum’s annual Devcon conference in Prague Oct. 30, Fabian Vogelsteller, also the main developer of decentralized application (DApp) browser Mist, proposed a new approach for running ICOs that he claims will better protect investors. Vogelsteller described the concept, dubbed a “reversible ICO” (RICO), as a fundraising model that allows investors to return their tokens – and be reimbursed – at any stage of the project, via a special-purpose smart contract. …

How can I be sure an exchange is telling the truth? Actions matter more than words – so take a look at what they have been doing to protect themselves from hacks and keep their platforms secure. Investment in fraud analytics matters. When exchanges spend money on trying to ensure their systems are robust, it helps to protect you: the user. Many platforms regularly submit themselves to security audits by independent parties, who then publish their findings and disclose the vulnerabilities they have found. Reputable exchanges will publish the outcome of these audits in full – enabling you to see …

The ADAB Solutions project, based in the United Arab Emirates, is planning to launch FICE — the First Islamic Crypto Exchange which will be operating “according to the principles of Shariah law.” The company is expecting to reach $146 million daily trading and $4.4 billion monthly turnover by 2020. Islamic finance as crypto exchange base The new project hasn’t been launched yet but it has already gotten the attention of the crypto community. The First Islamic Crypto Exchange was marked as number one in a recently published Coin Shark rating “TOP 10 ICO Projects That Became the Most Useful Ideas …

Germany’s financial regulator wants to see an international effort to regulate Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), despite remaining uncertain whether they would ever become more than a “niche issue,” German business outlet Handelsblatt reported Sunday, Oct. 28. In an interview with the publication, Felix Hufeld, chairman of Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), said German regulatory sources remained hawkish on ICOs as a financial instrument. “The number (of ICOs) and the volume (of money) per ICO are both getting higher. Investors have mostly minimal rights,” he said, adding: “I can thus only recommend private investors keep away from such things.” Regulators worldwide …

Unless you’re a hardcore crypto enthusiast with intense technical knowledge, it is highly unlikely that you’d know where to start when it comes to mining. The team behind WinMiner, with a history of over 1 billion installs, is vowing to change all of this. CEO and co-founder Ariel Yarnitsky, the former general manager of the pioneering instant messenger ICQ, and co-founder Idan Feigenbaum, creator of one of the most popular download managers, Download Accelerator, are leading this initiative. They say their “game changing” product easily enables anyone with a computer to turn spare power into an income and that over …