ICO Blockchain of Things Ordered by SEC to Return Investment & Face Penalty Jonathan Ganor 2019-12-19 03:54:40 775 views

Which ICO Will Be Next to Square Off Against the SEC?

It seems like U.S. regulators are coming down hard against those involved in ICOs. There were more than a handful that have received some form of action from the American government. The most recent was the CEO of Shopin which conducted an ICO and later faced charges of defrauding investors.

BCOT & The Securities and Exchange Commission

One of the hundreds of ICOs in 2017 - 2018 was Blockchain of Things, known as BCOT. Launched towards the end of the era in 2018, the ICO aimed to solve IoT security problems. It claimed to do so by employing oracles to the blockchain, in a manner similar to the better known project Chainlink.

The ICO managed to raise the equivalent of $14 million USD during the 5 weeks of its token sale. BCOT apparently barred non accredited U.S. investors during the token sale. Despite that, they still landed in some hot water with the SEC.

The SEC claims that BCOT did not register the ICO in compliance with federal securities law nor was it qualified for exemption. Additionally, they claimed that ICO investors did not receive all of the information they were entitled to as a security offering.

"BCOT did not provide ICO investors with the information they were entitled to receive in connection with a securities offering," said Carolyn M. Welshhans, Associate Director in the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "We will continue to consider appropriate remedies, such as those in today's order, to provide investors with compensation and required information and to provide companies who conducted unregistered offerings with an opportunity to move forward in compliance with the federal securities laws."

As a result of this BCOT will return funds to investors who purchased tokens in the ICO and are requesting a refund. Furthermore, BCOT will pay a $250,000 penalty and register their tokens as required by law.

Despite not being traded or active, BCOT is not listed on deadcoins.com. The biggest question is: Which ICO will face the SEC next?

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