Multiple US Enforcement Actions For ICOs, Dark Web Sales, Fraud And SIM Swapping

This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a consent order related to an initial coin offering (ICO) conducted by Blockchain of Things, Inc., a New York-based startup focused on providing a development platform for digital assets and messaging applications. As part of its settlement agreement with the SEC, the company agreed to return all invested funds (nearly $13 million), pay a $250,000 fine and comply with U.S. securities laws moving forward. The company entered the agreement based on its sales of digital tokens to U.S. consumers in December 2017 through an ICO after the SEC's publication of the "DAO Report," in which the SEC warned that ICOs may be considered securities offerings.