Not exact matches
There are huge risks here, as many of the startups launching
ICOs are getting regular people
to buy into thin or implausible business plans — or, worse, outright
scamming them with pump - and - dump schemes.
Nearly as bad, the SEC says the digital tokens they claimed
to be selling «don't really exist,» meaning REcoin and DRC — much like the notorious global
scam OneCoin — weren't running on blockchains at all, and therefore weren't even really
ICOs.
It doesn't take a financial whiz
to understand that many
ICOs operate like classic pump and dump
scams or pyramid schemes.
And in late August, it froze the shares of four companies on suspicions they were hyping upcoming
ICOs in order
to conduct pump - and - dump
scams.
China's regulators moved
to ban
ICO in 2017, saying the practice involved financial
scams and other illegal activities.
After word circulated that Confido's
ICO was a
scam, the value of the company's digital token dropped from $ 1.20 per coin
to around two cents, according
to data from Coinmarketcap.com.
Robinson agrees that the majority of
ICOs are
scams, but, he says there are boxes you can check if you want
to invest in a legitimate
ICO.
«Promoters [of
ICOs] are perpetuating a massive
scam of the highest order on everyone,» Befort told FT. «Probably over 85 percent of people out there don't have bad intentions, but the problem is, if five or 10 percent are trying
to scam you it's a f**king disaster.»
Hundreds of users fell victims
to email
scams over the past week, sending over $ 1 million worth of Ethereum
to a scammer who sent fake emails posing as the Bee Token
ICO (Initial Coin Offering).
«Ninety - nine percent of
ICOs are a
scam, so [China's pause on
ICOs] is needed
to filter the crooks out,» tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya tweeted this month.
Garrick Hileman, a senior research associate at the University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, said that it's often hard
to tell the difference between a failed
ICO and a deliberate
scam.
In November, the FBI charged Brooklyn businessman Maksim Zaslavskiy with securities fraud and conspiracy
to commit securities fraud for allegedly bilking investors out of $ 300,000 through an
ICO scam called REcoin which he claimed was «the first - ever cryptocurrency backed by real estate.»
Are investors finally getting wise
to initial coin offering (
ICO)
scams?
Government - backed study declares
ICOs are not
scams: While acknowledging the challenges that
ICOs present, Japanese government's recent study found out that
ICOs are not
scams and the right regulatory frameworks will be needed
to legitimize them under the national infrastructure.
Experience of resolving disputes after the fact has taught us a few lessons as
to how
to tell a real opportunity from a
scam so if you are attracted by an
ICO we would urge you
to:
Source:
Scam Experts or How Organizers of
ICOs Become Victims of
Scams Investments in
ICO projects are considered
to be highly risky for investors, but development teams also regularly find themselves in the risk zone.
In order
to make sure your investment decisions are not made by pure luck, we have decided
to craft a guide for investing in the
ICOs together with the chapter about the
scams and how
to spot one.
However, some
ICOs are merely
scams, out
to fleece investors of their hard - earned money.
We have already created a page on how
to spot
ICO Scams
In the past it was not uncommon for an
ICO to be a
scam, and just a way for someone
to earn an extra bit of money, but know protection such as multi-signature wallets are used, or a single public bitcoin address.
ICOs, unlike IPOs, are unregulated and so great care should be taken before participating in one
to make sure that it is not, in fact, a
scam.
«FINMA also recognizes that many
ICOs are increasingly being exposed as
scams and therefore regulation is necessary
to increase the efficiency and fairness of the
ICO market.
If the
ICO is issued by an overseas entity, it will be even harder
to get your money back if it turns out
to be a
scam.
While some see the
ICO as a creative and legitimate means
to raise funds, others view this digital gold rush as risky and ripe for
scams.
It can be very difficult
to recognize skillfully camouflaged
scam projects which after the
ICO «suddenly» disappear with the investor's money.
While some may bemoan any kind of
ICO regulation, it's fully understandable that a government will actively work
to stop any kind of financial
scam, especially when the typical
ICO can easily net millions of dollars.
To protect investors from
scams and fraudulent practices, governments have started the crackdown on unregulated
ICO advertising and marketing.
Recently, after a Change.org petition from an outraged GainBitcoin investor surfaced, the group behind the scheme launched an Ethereum
ICO (initial coin offering) in an effort
to keep the probable
scam going.
With exchange after exchange becoming compromised due
to lax security and the operators of fraudulent startups touting non-existent Blockchain solutions and
scam ICOs being unmasked on a monthly basis, the marketplace is risky business.
Prior
to this year, however, actions taken against
ICOs, like the shuttering of the Munchee's
ICO or the halting of AriseBank, have usually been linked
to the idea that these
ICOs were
scams meant
to defraud investors.
While this makes transactions and investments anonymized
to a degree, this also means that investors in cryptocurrency and those participating in Initial Coin Offerings (
ICOs) will have little protection should their digital wallets be compromised, cyberattackers steal funds from trading posts, or exit
scams occur.
As a result, people are beginning
to look at the
ICO market as a
scam.
South Korea in September announced it would be banning all forms of initial coin offerings (
ICOs) due
to the risk of
scams, with the FSC also banning credit exposures such as the loaning out of digital currencies.
Some of the
ICOs are borderline
scams in any case, so it's good
to separate them from the value - generating parts of Ethereum.
A few days later, e-mail distribution platform MailChimp also joined the fray, banning cryptocurrency and
ICO ads, in order
to put a complete stop on «
scams, fraud, phishing, and potentially misleading business practices.»
Google's ban will be enforced from June and extends
to related products such as currency exchanges, wallets, and initial coin offerings (
ICOs) in an attempt
to protect users from
scams.
«China is right about one thing, the
ICOs, the initial coin offerings, there are lots of
scams, lots of people who are fraudulently taking money from other people, so that's got
to stop.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told CNBC that investors should be «very wary» of
ICOs, which he referred
to as «absolute
scams.»
So how do you navigate the hundreds of new tokens going
to ICO and sort the profit makers from the
scams?
Conducting a token offering is very easy, but the number of
ICOs will eventually decline, while the number of failed cryptocurrencies is likely
to rise as people become more wary of betting money on worthless efforts or outright
scams.
To make it more complicated, Venezuela's opposition party has strongly condemned Petro cryptocurrency as a scam and also reports it as a very disorganized ICO, which brings us to notice that the buyers of Petro cryptocurrency have not received their Petro tokens yet, irrespective of the money raised by the ICO'
To make it more complicated, Venezuela's opposition party has strongly condemned Petro cryptocurrency as a
scam and also reports it as a very disorganized
ICO, which brings us
to notice that the buyers of Petro cryptocurrency have not received their Petro tokens yet, irrespective of the money raised by the ICO'
to notice that the buyers of Petro cryptocurrency have not received their Petro tokens yet, irrespective of the money raised by the
ICO's.
Since
ICOs are raising millions each day, it is not hard
to imagine that there are shady people lurking around, trying
to scam one of his or hers coins.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency asset freeze
to halt an Initial Coin Offering (
ICO)
scam that reportedly raised up
to $ 15 million from thousands of investors since August.
However, Fenton warned those who scoff at
ICOs to remember the early days of bitcoin when it also was called a
scam.
If the removal of ads contributes
to cleaning up
ICO scams, that is a good thing.
ICOs have already been called out for putting inexperienced investors at a greater risk than those already accustomed
to spotting
scams, and this example helps validate that argument.
It's been a bumpy ride from the heights of a successful
ICO to allegations of an «exit
scam».
Do you think that governments should implement more regulations in order
to protect investors from
ICO scams?
The upshot in price is especially significant because it comes at a time when the cryptocurrency sphere was seeing a lot of fear and panic in the markets after the recent ban that China imposed on its
ICO and a controversial statement by JPMorgan Chase CEO referring
to Bitcoin as a «
scam.»
And while it may be too early
to distinguish and separate the specific
ICOs that are outright
scams from poorly run companies, keep in mind that a couple dozen Pyramid schemes failing in 1997 led
to massive unrest and a civil war in Albania.