Recently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has penalized Russia-based rating firm ICO Rating for inability to disclose payments for positive reviews to different projects. The Securities and Exchange Commission reported that Russian establishment ICO Rating has consented to pay 268,998 dollars to settle charges that it neglected to disclose payments got from issuers for publicizing their securities offerings of the digital asset.
As indicated by the SEC, ventures evaluated by ICO Rating during that time raised assets through initial coin offerings which the Securities and Exchange Commission characterizes as securities. Accordingly, legal disclosures should have been made to potential financial investors. Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, Melissa Hodgman, said –
The securities laws require promoters, including both people and entities, to disclose compensation they receive for touting investments so that potential investors are aware they are viewing a paid promotional item. This requirement applies regardless of whether the securities being touted are issued using traditional certificates or on the blockchain.
ICO Rating is a platform for rating investments in ICO-based ventures, and it lists different team members from leading cryptocurrency ventures like NEO. Moreover, no organization individuals were fined in the SEC settlement. ICO Rating consented to pay 106,998 dollars in interest and a civil penalty of 162,000 dollars without remarking on the SEC’s findings.
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A glimpse of the news tweeted by SEC can be read from the below link-
SEC Charges ICO Research and Rating Provider With Failing to Disclose It Was Paid to Tout Digital Assets https://t.co/G9SMJfddvk
— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) August 20, 2019
At the beginning of August, SEC has acquired 7 million dollars settlement with PlexCorps proprietor Dominique Lacroix, his company partner Sabrina Paradis-Royer and PlexCorps over a reportedly fake ICO. The SEC declared that the respondents raised 8,269,218 dollars through the PlexCoin ICO.
Currently, New England-based firm SimplyVital Health settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission over a reportedly unregistered 6.3 million dollars ICO. By not confirming or denying the charges that it disregarded certain parts of the Securities Act of 1933, SimplyVital consented to a cease-and-desist order demanded by the SEC.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States office was created by Congress in 1934 and is currently the leading organization which regulates and controls all activities on securities markets. Moreover, to accomplish its transparency, SEC asks public and other regulated organizations to give quarterly and yearly reports that detail the working procedure of the organization during that timeframe. All reports are accessible to the general population. Presently, one of the primary tasks of the SEC is to scrutinize the cryptocurrency market and investment facilities identified with it to reveal any illicit activities, like selling securities under the appearance of tokens. Until now, the SEC is auditing documents from 100 organizations.
