Altcoin News: New Jersey Regulator Bans Two ICO Projects

August 8, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

The New Jersey Securities Bureau announced the issuance of restraining orders for two ICO projects, Zoptax and UNOcall.

Canadian and US regulators, coordinated by the North American Association of Securities Administrators (NASAA), with the assistance of the State of New Jersey, issued restraining orders for ICO projects Zoptax and UNOcall.

As part of the Operation Cryptosweep initiative, the New Jersey Securities Bureau revealed that both ICOs were responsible for fraudulent securities offerings. Zoptax tried to raise between $500,000 and $3.4 million through the sale of its Zoptax Coins tokens, while UNOcall offered to invest in the tokens issued by it, promising daily interest income in the range from 0.18% to 0.88%.

A statement by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal states that market rules apply to all businesses, regardless of the industry they operate in:

“[The] Bureau of Securities stands ready to enforce our investor protection laws in cases involving initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency-related investment schemes. As innovation in the online cryptocurrency-related investment market continues, market players need to understand that the rules still apply to them.”

Since January 2019, as part of the Operation Cryptosweep, 85 cases, 330 requests and investigations, as well as eight enforcement actions, including the issuance of prohibitions against Zoptax and UNOcall, have been initiated.

Recall that in April the Texas Securities Board banned the operation of the cryptocurrency trading platform FxBitGlobe, which misled local investors, and in February, four companies stopped selling tokens at the request of the same regulator.

Author: Marko Vidrih