On September 30, 2019, the SEC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, making findings, and imposing a cease-and-desist order with respect to Block.one in connection with an ICO allegedly conducted in violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities…
On September 18, 2019, the SEC filed an enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California against ICOBox and its co-founder and CEO (Nikolay Evdokimov) for violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act for the sale of unregistered securities and for violation…
On August 29, 2019, the SEC issued a final judgment as to Bitqyck Inc. (“Bitqyck”) and its founders (Bruce Bise and Sam Mendez) concerning the defendants’ conduct with respect to the sale of digital tokens and the failure to register as a national securities exchange. The order was part of…
On August 12, 2019, the SEC issued an order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings pursuant to Section 8A of the Securities Act of 1933, making findings, and imposing a cease-and-desist order with respect to SimplyVital Health, Inc. (“SimplyVital”) in connection with token sales allegedly conducted in violation of Sections 5(a) and 5(c)…
YouNow, Inc. (File No. 024-11018) On July 11, 2019, one day after the qualification of Blockstack’s offering, the SEC qualified the second offering of digital tokens under Regulation A+. YouNow, Inc. sought to offer an aggregate of 178,000,000 “Props Tokens” at a deemed price of $0.1369 per token in (1)…
On July 10, 2019, the SEC qualified the first-ever offering of digital tokens under Regulation A+. Blockstack PBC sought to offer up to 180,333,333 “Stacks Tokens” in the following ways: (1) 78,333,333 Stacks Tokens at a discounted price of US $0.12 per token (up to a maximum of US $3,000 per holder)…
On May 9, 2019, Commissioner Hester Peirce of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) expressed concern that the SEC is moving too slowly in providing meaningful guidance for the digital token industry. Commissioner Peirce acknowledged that the SEC has provided some direction to date by: (1) issuing the DAO…
On April 24, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia granted in part and denied in part a motion to dismiss a complaint alleging that the controlling shareholders of FLiK, a company designed to create an online distribution platform for entertainment projects, violated Sections 12(a) and…
On Apr. 3, 2019, the SEC Division of Corporation Finance (“Division”) issued a no-action letter to TurnKey Jet, Inc. (“TKJ”) in response to TKJ’s incoming letter dated Apr. 2, 2019. At the same time, the Division released a paper entitled “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” (see accompanying…
On April 3, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released the “Framework for ‘Investment Contract’ Analysis of Digital Assets” (the “Framework”). The Framework—published by the SEC’s Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology (“FinHub”) —is the most comprehensive guidance the SEC has provided to date with respect to a…