This week, following a report from the Wall Street Journal, the CEO and founder of social media startup Kik published a blog post providing details on Kik's interactions with the SEC following the company's 2017 ICO, which reportedly raised approximately $100 million. The blog post provided a link to the SEC's Wells Notice explaining the SEC's position that the Kik ICO was a sale of unregistered securities, and Kik's Wells Response arguing that it did not violate the securities laws. In its Wells Response, among other things, Kik argues that its Kin token is a currency, not a security. Kik's Wells Response also indicates that the company is willing to litigate the issue in court.
In South Korea this week, four major cryptocurrency exchanges – Bithumb, Coinone, Korbit and Upbit – announced a partnership to share information related to suspected money laundering, including establishing a shared database of suspicious wallet addresses. This comes on the heels of a report issued late last week by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that cited the growth of the blockchain industry in Malta as having created "significant risks" related to money laundering and terrorist financing.
Late last week Europol, UK and German law enforcement arrested a suspect in the theft of cryptocurrency valued at approximately 10 million euros that allegedly was stolen from 85 victims since January 2018. In other news from Europe, the owner of the hacked cryptocurrency exchange BitGrail was declared bankrupt by an Italian bankruptcy court, with the court reportedly authorizing seizures of many of the owner's personal assets to compensate victims of the hack.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Four Commissioners at the SEC are About to Vote on the Future of Crypto in the U.S. You Need to Know Why We're Fighting Back.
- WELLS SUBMISSION OF KIK INTERACTIVE, INC. AND THE KIN ECOSYSTEM FOUNDATION
- 4 South Korean Crypto Exchanges Team Up to Tackle Money Laundering
- IMF highlights need for immediate action, commends efforts by FIAU
- CRYPTOCURRENCY IOTA: INTERNATIONAL POLICE COOPERATION ARRESTS SUSPECT BEHIND 10 MILLION EUR THEFT
- Owner of Hacked Crypto Exchange BitGrail Sentenced to Return Funds to Customers
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
