{"id":14745,"date":"2019-10-04T23:42:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-04T23:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/?p=14745"},"modified":"2019-10-05T08:39:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T08:39:55","slug":"news-eos-settles-with-sec-paypal-dumps-facebooks-libra-digitised-gold-coinbase-triples-fees-bitcoin-foundation-is-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/davidgerard.co.uk\/blockchain\/2019\/10\/04\/news-eos-settles-with-sec-paypal-dumps-facebooks-libra-digitised-gold-coinbase-triples-fees-bitcoin-foundation-is-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"News: EOS settles with SEC, PayPal dumps Libra, digitised gold, Coinbase triples fees, Bitcoin Foundation is dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

EOS, in the form of Block.One, has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission<\/a> over its 2017 ICO being an unregistered securities offering \u2014 an ICO that was so hilariously terrible it rated particular mention<\/a> in Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain<\/i><\/a>. Block.One has paid a fine of $24 million.<\/p>\n

The crypto world has risen up as one and gone “WHAT ON EARTH”<\/a> \u2014 EOS claimed at the time to have taken in four billion dollars<\/i> in ether, and getting fined 0.6% of that seems like an amazing<\/em> deal.<\/p>\n

The order<\/a> is oddly different to other SEC administrative orders over ICOs \u2014 it’s only seven pages, and there’s no section outlining the SEC’s legal reasoning.<\/p>\n

Some have suggested that the fine was so small, relatively speaking, because EOS didn’t take in $4 billion at all \u2014 but instead, cycled the received Ether back through the system to make the eventual number look bigger and bag tokens for themselves. This is a trick many ICOs tried. But there’s no smoking-gun evidence I know of that EOS did this.<\/p>\n

Stephen Palley posts a considered opinion<\/a> \u2014 “I\u2019d heard whispers, off the record and unsubstantiated, of subpoenas being issued over the summer, which means that this was a formal investigation and also means that in SEC investigation time, the case settled relatively quickly, within about a year.” Block.one tried to block US investors by IP, but some got through, and there was that advertising billboard in Times Square.<\/p>\n

Palley cautions that this is not open season for token offerings \u2014 “the notion that this kind of settlement is a green light for unregistered securities offerings is stupid. Stupid. That\u2019s the technical word.” Don’t try this now.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The SEC on unregulated securities sales pic.twitter.com\/DAf3BIBH6Q<\/a><\/p>\n

— Cryptofungus (@crypt0fungus) October 1, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n