SEC Is Still Going After Those 2017 Ethereum Token ICOs
LOCIcoin is a token related to Loci Inc’s patent research software. The SEC charged Loci Inc. and CEO John Wise with making fraudulent statements and running unregistered securities offerings.
After slapping Block.one with a $24 million penalty in 2019 for its $4 billion initial coin offering of EOS and then nipping the $1.2 billion Telegram ICO in the bud in 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission has gone back to picking off smaller projects that are on life support.
The agency today charged Loci Inc. and CEO John Wise with fraud and conducting an unregistered securities sale of LOCIcoin in 2017 and 2018. Loci and Wise have settled the charges and, according to the SEC, agreed to destroy their tokens, remove them from exchanges, and never offer digital asset securities again. They must also pay $7.6 million, the value of the Ethereum tokens they received for the sale, as a civil penalty.