On October 21, 2020, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a final judgment on consent against Kik Interactive Inc. to resolve the Securities and Exchange Commission’s charges that Kik’s unregistered public sale of digital tokens in 2017 violated the federal securities laws. The final judgment requires Kik to
Telegram TRO Sends Strong Message to Digital Token Issuers
On October 11, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) announced it filed a complaint and obtained a temporary restraining order against Telegram Group Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary TON Issuer Inc. (collectively, “Telegram”) relating to Telegram’s offering of tokens without registration in violation of the Federal securities laws. The action sends a strong…
First S-1 Filing for an ICO: Going Legit or Just a Crypto Head Fake?
Initial coin offerings so far have gone through two major phases in their brief lifespan. The initial phase flew under the regulatory radar in an explosion of deals that raised billions of dollars seemingly overnight and without either registering the offerings with the SEC or complying with an exemption from registration. The ICO atmosphere changed…
Hand it Over: SAFT-Based ICOs Challenged by SEC Subpoenas
The Wall Street Journal ominously reported on February 28 that the Securities and Exchange Commission recently issued dozens of subpoenas to initial coin offering issuers and their advisors demanding information about the structure of their ICOs. Although the Commission has yet to officially acknowledge them, the subpoenas are consistent with a series of SEC enforcement…