Blockchain company Block.One has settled with the SEC and pays a 24 million dollar fine. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission the EOS token is a 'security' and therefore didn't meet the standards of American law. This was announced on Monday. Block.One is not going to fight the decision and decided to just pay the fine.
“A number of US investors participated in Block.one’s ICO. Companies that offer or sell securities to US investors must comply with the securities laws, irrespective of the industry they operate in or the labels they place on the investment products they offer.”
Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement
Block.One didn't admit nor denied any wrong doing. However, the company managed to gather 4.1 billion dollars during its Initial Coin Offering. They sold 900 million EOS tokens over the period from June 2017 to June 2018. We might conclude that the 24 million dollar fine by the SEC is a small payment for Block.One. This June the company even bought the domain name Voice.com for $30 million.
Block.One not only one fighting SEC
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will be bringing a lot more ICOs to court. The government organization is already in a legal battle with Kik Messenger, which launched their KIN token through an ICO. As a result Kik has closed its messenger and now uses all its financial resources to keep their KIN project alive. Last week they said they will fight the SEC in court until their last cent.
Further more there are cases against Veritaseum, ICOBox, Longfin Corp and many other crypto companies. Some of them are being charged for offering their Initial Coin Offering to American citizens, while others are being accused of fraud. Also famous people who promoted these ICOs are being investigated, resulting in fines for DJ Khaled and boxing champion Floyd Mayweather.
Posted from my blog: https://www.nederob.nl/2019/10/01/block-one-pays-24-million-and-settles-with-sec/