WSJ Analyzes 1,450 ICOs, Flags 271 as Scams

According to research conducted by the Wall Street Journal, around 20 percent of ‎initial coin offerings (ICOs) are merely pure scams, with many others more ‎likely to fail.‎

The WSJ team came to its conclusion after analyzing 1,450 digital coin ‎offerings, of which 271 were red-flagged on the basis of various ‎parameters, such as “plagiarized investor documents, promises of ‎guaranteed returns and missing or fake executive teams.”

So far, more than $1 billion has been poured into ICOs where the Journal ‎identified red flags, despite the fact that it's nearly impossible to know ‎which ones will survive. ‎

To do their work, the group of researchers reviewed the startups’ statements ‎and online transaction records. The research shows that 25 of ICOs can be ‎labeled scams right now as they claim guaranteed returns on investments, a ‎common fraud tactic and something the SEC prohibits. The risk-free ‎investments, however, lure many ICO investors who are drawn to the idea ‎that their token will post Bitcoin Bitcoin While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that While some may still be wondering what is Bitcoin, who created Bitcoin, or how does Bitcoin work, one thing is certain: Bitcoin has changed the world.No one can remain indifferent to this revolutionary, decentralized, digital asset nor to its blockchain technology.In fact, we’ve gone a long way ever since a Florida resident Laszlo Hanyecz made BTC’s first official commercial transaction with a real company by trading 10,000 Bitcoins for 2 pizzas at his local Papa John’s.One could now argue that Read this Term-like gains.‎

Additionally, at least 124 of these projects had faked or concealed team ‎members. More specifically, the ICO operators didn’t disclose their listed ‎team members who either didn’t appear to exist or were impersonating identities ‎of other people who told the WSJ that their photos were used without their ‎knowledge.‎

Other red flags included characteristics that are common to fraudulent ‎offerings, such a Whitepaper Whitepaper A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho A whitepaper is defined as a pitch or persuasive, authoritative, and often in-depth report on a specific topic that presents a problem along with a respective solution. Marketers rely on whitepapers for a variety of reasons, most simply to educate an audience about a particular issue or to promote a particular methodology. In the cryptocurrency world, a whitepaper is a document that should contain all of the information about the technology that was used to build a cryptocurrency network, and ho Read this Term with a complex yet vague explanation of the ‎investment opportunity, promises of financial rewards without any risk, ‎unresponsive websites with only a countdown clock that shows time is ‎running out on the deal of a lifetime.‎

Of the projects listed on the report, 111 offerings were sharing a duplicate ‎language with entire sections word-for-word were copied from other white ‎papers. These included copied descriptions of the working product and ‎roadmap, security issues and some technical features.‎

These findings are nothing new in the world of digital token sales. The ‎U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), along with other ‎regulators across the world, have been cracking down on ICO fraud.‎

The US top regulator repeatedly warned investors against throwing money into the virtual ‎crowdsale because the company intended to launch a cryptocurrency-based ‎‎investment scheme without even attempting to follow US securities laws.‎