Bitcoin Forum

via CoinDesk  https://www.coindesk.com/canada-court-holds-ico-organizer-contempt/

It is now possible to have a regulated ICO in Canada, via the sandbox program... https://www.securities-administrators.ca/industry_resources.aspx?id=1588 

So be prepare to see more and more arrest and lawsuits bring by the Canadian Regulators, on any undocumented, unverified and unregulated ICO.

I think this could be a first step to start to "drain the swamp" from scamsters to good guys..

Louis
www.bitcoin-law.ca

I somewhat support that step taken by Canadian government. Because ICO is a controversial method of raising funds without any central authority approval. A lot of scammers are swarming the field and a lot of investors have already lost their invested money because the company didn't turn up with what they promised during ICO. If it can't be regulated now, the ICO market will become similar to HYIP and that will have a positive impact on crypto currency market. If it can be regulated under a central agency, then the investors can be assured with their invested money and also the product on which the ICO owner is banking on. Banning ICO is not a solution but providing a proper framework and monitoring is required for the interest of the investors and for the market as well. 

Good for Canada. Regulations get a bad rep, but in this case, it's a complete win for consumers. The regulations only really affect the ICO organizers, so investors have nothing to worry about. ICOs are really nothing but a scamfest mess right now, and I am of the opinion that regulation is direly necessary. Eliminating these scammers should help the smaller and lesser known but legit ICOs to raise the capital they need. It's a win for legit ICOs, and it's a win for investors. I hope the rest of the world takes a similar approach.

It's kind of weird for this specific case though. The article said these entities were barred from pushing through with their ICO, but didn't say why. Still, if they wanted to go through with it despite specific orders not to, I can only assume something shady must be going on there.

Little by Little we can see that regulations ( soft policies ) can help to eradicate and minimize scam coins and also the pump and dump-made ICOs because Government regulating and observing them. Taxes will be there and Cases and sanctions will be there.

That’s likely to happen for there is so much scamming and relentless abuses behind ICO projects.. As long as it is for the protection and interest of the investors,, i will support it.. But what if the one reporting it is a competitors who just want to make that ICO in bad light.. Canada been a versatile government and hoping this would be copied in my country..

Good step by the Canadian authorities, it will help to reduce the increasing number of ICO scams. There should be some strict law, if someone is collecting the funds from the people with the intentions of scamming them. Such ICO scams are spoiling the image of cryptocurrencies, hence proper measures should be taken to burst the same.

The bad thing about this is that they ignored a court order that is why they are being held in contempt. It is stated as a news since July 2017 (https://lautorite.qc.ca/en/general-public/media-centre/news/fiche-dactualites/virtual-currency-orders-issued-against-plexcorps-plexcoin-dl-innov-inc-gestio-inc-and-dominic/) but they at still ignored the AMF so they will suffer the consequences. Good thing that they will still have a hearing about the charge filed to them. The people managing the ICO shouldn't be making alternative ways of how they can sell there ICO the Tribunal even asked Facebook Canada to ban their pages, the charge will hopefully make them learn their mistakes.

Thanks for the link.! Good to know that they are starting to regulate ICO as of now and the step was made by Canadian Government would really be a starting point for others to do such regulation too. For those scam ICO's out there your days are coming to an end and making easy money would really be already a tough job for you guys. Sooner or later this stuff will really be implemented on most countries specially to those who do have active ico projects.

Actually my law office is working with a few guys to setup a couple of crypto ventures.

We are working close with the Canadian regulators and I've got to admit that they have an open mind, they do understand the concept of crypto-currencires, the blockchain and ICO.

Louis
www.bitcoin-law.ca

YES. Couldn't agree more. There's so many scam ico's out there it's annoying af.

The only thing I wonder about is how robust that program is and if it limits blockchains int he future from their full capabilities

Great advocacy and really appreciate how you make it better for the interest of the investors. And the best part is Law practitioners are more open now to this kind of cases. And hoping this could multiple in each country that ICO scamming is a business.

Canadian regulators are open minded to this because they’re honest to they’re people and have great services for they’re country.

Just curious the law office your talking about is accepting bitcoin as a payment for this kind of cases? Thanks.

While I am personally supporting the freedom to have an ICO project as it is now one of the best ways to raise capital for a worthwhile endeavor, it can never be denied that human nature will set in and so we have so many scam artists already entering into the field. It is just a matter of time that the government authorities will step in and try to regulate the chaotic market.

Now taking into consideration what China did with ICOs, to have clear and firm regulations on holding an ICO can be much better that being banned altogether. This is a way to filter possible scams and save future investors from losing their money. A good project with a good development and management can pass the eye of the needle if they have nothing to hide, that's for sure.

It is about time that we have to regulate ICOs so as to make it implode and save it from the many scammers just waiting around to get their next victims.

The ICO bubble looks like it's starting to reach the end. 

The entire bubble relies on people being able to get in spontaneously with small amounts of money - most of the people who buy in to ICOs are new to investment, hence why they invest ridiculous amounts in companies with pretty pathetic backgrounds and aims.

If ICOs are regulated similarly to IPOs, it's unlikely that these people will bother getting involved anymore, just like how they didn't bother to get involved in IPOs before.

Great advocacy and really appreciate how you make it better for the interest of the investors. And the best part is Law practitioners are more open now to this kind of cases. And hoping this could multiple in each country that ICO scamming is a business.

Canadian regulators are open minded to this because they’re honest to they’re people and have great services for they’re country.

Just curious the law office your talking about is accepting bitcoin as a payment for this kind of cases? Thanks.
[/quote]

Our law office is accepting payment in crypto for about any type of cases and compliance works.

Louis
www.bitcoin-law.ca

We can see the hope of having a Clean Altcoin Announcement board. Keep the Regulations Coming for every country, it's time to have a trust on every ICO we see online, This regulations could also lessen the threads asking if  "X ICO is SCAM".

Good moved by the Canadian regulators, this is really a good step to really curb and stop those ICOs that are just to scam investors. And before they can think to put up another one to raise millions of funds and suddenly disappear they will very well think twice. At least they have started a good campaign and filtered somewhat upcoming ICO's. Maybe this is another way to really weed out the bad grass and bring back trust to investing to a legit ICO. And yeah the bubble has been burst, scam ICO days are numbered.

im not rally mad at this either. before there was guidance and regulation, that was one thing. its not my fault or problem if the government doesnt deem it worth the time to regulate a thing; i will use it to my advantage until they take the time to do so. but especially of late, they have been very vocal about the consequences of offering an unregulated security, and this is from multiple governments that dont even really collude. 

we wont like bitcoin as much when they finish shaping it in their image, however. this will be bitcoin 3.0

The issue of ICOs raising funds cannot be said enough even though we all know that there is need to sanitize that entire section of the crypto-world, it still does not mean the good guys won't be affected because in trying to do the right thing in terms of registration and getting the proper clearance, you might be buried in paper works, the unnecessary costs, the need to bring in underwriters and every other timing wasting agents applicable in fiat. My humble opinion, is that there should be a publicly published procedure for ICOs solely, and not to be treated as raising money in the stock market. With this everyone knows and do the right thing or else, cases like this will continue to happen.

Very good news to the people who are investing into the ICO's because it means ICO' getting registered in Canada must follow their rules and regulations. I think from now onwards ICO's getting from Canada are legalized ICO's.

thank for information :)

This may be a good point... but now, people may invest in ICO up to about 3 000$... in some cases, pre-sale to accredited investors may reach millions. The Canadian ICO compliance system is certainly asking works and papers, but it is far more less complicated than a traditional IPO.

Louis
www.bitcoin-law.ca

This only really impacts on the prospective businesses that have not already put in the work before any ICO to develop sound plans, show a public face and bring confidence in the product to the investors. Many good offerings already have a significant amount of information available, some even with working prototypes. It's the ones with nothing, simply asking people to throw money at them that are the issue, and removing these from the equation will only strengthen faith in ICOs.

I think, governments needs to setup regulations and Infrastructure around ICO as fast as possible, today's economy looks vastly different than it did a generation ago. Banning is not going to solve anything.

Really? Under what law? I don't think they will create special laws for ICOs alone if some law already covers it anyway.

The court is right to hold them in contempt because that is what is expected in the case you are not doing the right thing. With further understanding of the article, I am sure its going to be one of those ICOs that does not meant well for the investors and that is why they find it so difficult to do the right thing and ensuring to keep to laid down rules and regulations now they have to face the music.

Are they only regulating ICO's from developers based in Canada
or can they also penalize developers from other countries?
Most of the people that are doing ICOs are from other countries.
Hopefully other countries will do the same as what Canada have done.

Once this kind of regulation is available more investors will most likely join coming ICOs.