- Colorado authorities have taken action against 18 bitcoin-linked alleged scams via its ICO Task Force created earlier in the year
- Authorities say they’re still looking to go after two more allegedly fraudulent projects
- Colorado Securities Commissioner has warned investors to read between the lines before pumping funds into ICOs
Colorado Securities Commissioner, Gerald Rome has reportedly signed 18 cease-and-desist orders for initial coin offerings in the state suspected to be fraudulent businesses only interested in scamming investors, according to a Denver Business Journal report earlier this week.
End of the Road for these 18 ICOs
Per sources close to the matter, Gerald Rome, securities commissioner at the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) has signed orders targeted at clamping down on 18 allegedly fraudulent initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the state.
According to the Colorado Official State Web Portal, the state’s financial watchdog issued the allegedly fraudulent bitcoin-linked businesses cease-and-desist orders following investigations by its “ICO Task Force,” which was reportedly created in May 2018 to hunt down illegal ICOs.
Thus far, the agency says it has successfully shut down eighteen illegal crypto-based businesses offering unregistered securities to Colorado residents, with two more orders in the pipeline.
The latest suspected scam ICOs to be crushed by the state include Global Pay Net (GLPN), a project allegedly issuing “GLPN Coins” to Coloradans, promising them a stake in its international blockchain-powered financial platform, plus 80 percent of the firm’s profit.
The site also reportedly made several fictitious claims, including a filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) EDGAR database, fake team members, non-existent business address and more.
Regulators Proactively Fighting Bad Actors
Commenting on the development, Commissioner Rome stated:
“The sheer number of orders entered against ICOs should be a red flag to all investors that there is a serious risk that the ICO project you are considering is a fraud.”
Despite the ongoing slump in the price of bitcoin and other digital assets, cyberpunks are still very much interested in enriching themselves at the detriment of others and regulators have been working tirelessly round the clock to curb the activities of bitcoin fraudsters.
As reported by Blockchain Reporter on November 17, 2018, the U.S. SEC issued new guidelines for ICO generated tokens, making it clear that all related businesses must come under its purview
