Category: ICO

Security Token Startup Templum Shifts to Private Blockchains

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Security token specialist Templum is shifting from public to private blockchains. Announced Monday, enterprise software vendor Symbiont is building a private blockchain and smart contracts system that Templum will use for future security token offerings (STOs) by its clients. Previously, the regulated broker-dealer left the choice of blockchain protocol up to the issuers, but this posed problems, Templum CEO Christopher Pallotta told CoinDesk. Many were choosing ERC-20 tokens that run on top of ethereum, said Pallotta, but that network’s well-known scaling challenges meant trading could be hampered during periods of high transaction…

Brazilian Bank Aims to Raise $15 Million Through Security Token Offering

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A Brazilian investment bank is planning to raise millions of dollars through the offering of a security token. In an announcement Thursday, Banco BTG Pactual said it will back its blockchain-based token with distressed Brazilian real estate assets, with the expectation of raising up to $15 million. It will also establish a secondary market following the sale in order to provide liquidity to the tokens. The offering will allow investors to invest in the Brazilian real estate market and, based on the performance of the tied assets, receive periodic profits. International investors will be…

Blog: Advancing the adtech debate from a data protection perspective

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Simon McDougall, Executive Director for Technology Policy and Innovation, invites adtech industry stakeholders to a fact-finding forum. Advertising is as old as commerce itself. Companies have always innovated to access new markets, and people are often happy to learn of new products and services. But in recent years, technology has completely transformed the way advertising is bought, sold and delivered. Many advertising techniques use people’s personal information, in the form of a personal profile, to decide which advert is delivered to them. Publishers then utilise real-time advertising methods to sell the…

Blog: Show you mean business by paying the Data Protection Fee

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Paul Arnold, ICO Deputy Chief Executive explains to small businesses why they need to pay the data protection fee.  Businesses that process personal data have to pay a fee to the data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office. It’s the law to pay the fee, which funds the ICO’s work, but it also makes good business sense. Because whether or not you’ve paid the fee could have an impact on your reputation. When you’ve paid, your business is published on our register of data controllers. Members of the public and other…

BitTorrent Token Is Already Nearly 6 Times Its ICO Price

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The price of BitTorrent Token (BTT) is closing in on six times the price of its initial coin offering (ICO), which occurred just one week ago. 59.8 billion BTT tokens were sold through Binance’s token sale platform on Jan. 28 at a price of $0.00012 per token, according to sale information provided by the exchange. Up nearly 40 percent today alone, BTT is now trading at a considerably higher price of $0.000798 – representing a 565 percent increase from its ICO price, Coinmarketcap data reveals. That sale sold out in…

ICO to audit data protection practices at Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance after fining both companies for unlawful marketing messages

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The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued fines totalling £120,000 to an EU referendum campaign and an insurance company for serious breaches of electronic marketing laws and is set to review how both are complying with data protection laws. The ICO announced an audit and issued a preliminary enforcement notice as well as three notices of intent to fine Leave.EU and Eldon Insurance trading as Go Skippy Insurance, in November 2018 as part of its investigation into data analytics for political purposes. After considering the companies’ representations, the ICO has…

South Korea Will Maintain ICO Ban After Finding Token Projects Broke Rules

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South Korea’s top financial regulator has said it will not lift the ban on domestic initial coin offerings (ICOs) after finding that some projects have been violating rules.As ICO investment is a “high risk” activity, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said, calling on the public to exercise caution when investing in token projects, according to a report from CoinDesk Korea. The FSC decision was informed by the results of a survey conducted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), indicating that some ICOs purportedly conducted abroad had also illegally raised money…

From Mar-a-Lago to Coinbase, Dubious Claims Follow Doc.com Token Sales

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A health startup tied to a public cryptocurrency is using overstated language about some of its industry relationships and its affiliation with crypto exchange Coinbase as it seeks to sell tokens to investors, a CoinDesk investigation has found. Mexico City-based Doc.com, which offers an app that provides healthcare and psychology consulting to underprivileged communities, also features a built-in wallet for the startup’s cryptocurrency, MTC. The venture-backed startup raised over $1.8 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2018, then integrated MTC into its app in July of that year…

Chat App Kik Says It Will Fight SEC Over Possible ICO Action

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Canada-based messaging app company Kik is planning to fight a likely U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enforcement action over its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO). According to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Sunday, Kik founder and CEO Ted Livingston said that the firm’s token, kin, works like a currency and is not “an unregistered security” as believed by the SEC. Kik raised almost $100 million via a sale of the token last September. With ICOs having diminished in number, in part due to the threat of regulatory…

ICO celebrates the success of innovative data protection projects on Data Protection Day 2019

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Innovative data protection projects funded by the ICO are making a real difference to public trust and confidence in privacy issues. The projects were the first to receive money as part of the ICO’s grants programme, which facilitates innovative, independent research focused on privacy and data protection issues. It aims to increase the public’s trust and confidence in how their personal data is used. Now three of the grant recipients have spoken for the first time about how they’ve used the money. On Data Protection Day 2019 the ICO will…