SEC Fines ICO Rating on Touting Issuer-Paid Assessment Listings

The US regulators fined crypto research website ICOrating.com and its founders for defrauding investors by publishing listings purportedly based on “unbiased” and “not paid for” research when in reality their ratings were impartial and seemingly influenced by the wallets of the respective ICOs.

The Russian website, which consented without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, is paying $268,998 to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that it was secretly compensated for touting certain crypto projects it rated.

From December 2017 to July 2018, ICO Rating allegedly collected up to $100,572 in presentation fees. Although these ratings, in reality, were nothing more than paid advertisements, it’s not clear if the token issuers had input into the content of the site’s supposedly unbiased ratings.

“ICO Rating charged entities a fee to rate, and produce and publish research reports regarding ICO projects on the www.icorating.com website, and to publicize the reports and ratings via social media channels,” the SEC said today.

ICO visibility might not depend on quality

The agency added that investors could be misled by biased promotions, adding that ICO promoters deemed securities must fully disclose any Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term they received in order to comply with federal securities laws. Failure to do so could violate anti-touting laws which require any person who publicizes a security to fully disclose the receipt of any consideration from its issuer or dealer.

The rating sites also may be liable for potential violations of the anti-fraud laws for participating in the sale of unregistered securities, and for acting as unregistered brokers.

Melissa Hodgman, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, commented: “The securities laws require promoters, including both people and entities, to disclose compensation they receive for touting investments so that potential investors are aware they are viewing a paid promotional item. This requirement applies regardless of whether the securities being touted are issued using traditional certificates or on the Blockchain Blockchain Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Blockchain comprises a digital network of blocks with a comprehensive ledger of transactions made in a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin or other altcoins.One of the signature features of blockchain is that it is maintained across more than one computer. The ledger can be public or private (permissioned.) In this sense, blockchain is immune to the manipulation of data making it not only open but verifiable. Because a blockchain is stored across a network of computers, it is very difficult to tampe Read this Term.”