The SEC has started enforcement actions against fraudulent ICOs

[MAbtc]

According to a new press release from the SEC, two ICOs have been targeted for enforcement actions -- REcoin and the Diamond Reserve Club, which are apparently run by some fraud named Maksim Zaslavskiy. He claimed that $2 - $4 million was raised in the ICOs, when only $300,000 was raised. He also claimed to have a "team of lawyers, professionals, brokers, and accountants" when apparently none had ever been consulted. There is an emergency court order to freeze his assets (but good luck to the victims in recovering the funds)....

See here: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-185-0

[Zalfa_mui]

That's the right thing to do, because many ICOs also use illegal ones,
With the SEC action ,, will make ICO better in the future.
I support it

[bamboylee]

That is a good development. Hopefully this will serve as a lesson to those scams ICO so that they will stop creating such. And also to investors to so that they will spend some time to study the ICO before joining or investing to them. Good work SEC.

[BittBurger]

Having been involved in this space since 2012 and now seeing the ICO investors who throw money at these projects, its crazy to me how few of them to any research.  They ask the craziest, dumbest questions because they invest no time making sure they're investing in legitimate projects. 

This is probably why the SEC is needed.  Its absolutely insane how little due diligence people do, which I don't understand, because the topic is their hard-earned money.

-B-

[rebel92]

I think this is a good thing ICO are being taken advantage of by scammers and companies wanting to make a quick buck without liabilities. I think this will lead too cryptocurrencies being less volatile too.

[Ch1bi]

Good to see action taken against bad ICOs such as this one. I think people will begin to see that they can't just swindle people out of their money and face no consequences. This is a step in the right direction rather than outright banning ICOs. 

[gentlemand]

It's a fine move and people need protecting from themselves. But if they carry on doing their jobs then ICO teams will simply move offshore. There are too many stupid people wanting to throw their money at any old shit and there'll always be scum willing to give them what they think they want.

[grayru]

Here is comments from Zaslavskiy — he promises to fight in courts. And some explanations as well.
https://anycoin.news/2017/09/30/maksim-zaslavsky-on-sec-charges-we-will-fight/?utm_source=bt&utm_medium=l&utm_campaign=bt

[thebanker28]

The SEC usually take their time in building cases so if they have brought 2 cases my suspicion is that there are many more to come. I am pretty happy that if the ICO were frauds that they should be prosecuted. No complaints from me.

The danger comes from blanket actions that anyone who touched any ICO gets prosecuted, "being guilty by association"

Watching, waiting.

[grayru]

Well, it is actually one case, since there is only one alleged person. And the guy made himself very vulnerable without any help 

[pixie85]

His name looks Russian... So many Russian scammers in crypto these days. Not long ago they had this Russian from BTC-e arrested and now we have one guy running two operations suspected of being a scam at the same time.

Well, it is actually one case, since there is only one alleged person. And the guy made himself very vulnerable without any help 

Yea he's a pro at this. I wonder how many shell companies he owns.

[ropyu1978]

true, the customer is the victim of the impact of the fraud. nice to be learning for ico who just want to cheat the investors, I'm glad if there are institutions that oversee developers like ico

[grayru]

His name looks Russian... So many Russian scammers in crypto these days.

I was told he is from Ukraine but moved to the USA in the beginning of 90s. So maybe he is an American citizen  

[Yakamoto]

According to a new press release from the SEC, two ICOs have been targeted for enforcement actions -- REcoin and the Diamond Reserve Club, which are apparently run by some fraud named Maksim Zaslavskiy. He claimed that $2 - $4 million was raised in the ICOs, when only $300,000 was raised. He also claimed to have a "team of lawyers, professionals, brokers, and accountants" when apparently none had ever been consulted. There is an emergency court order to freeze his assets (but good luck to the victims in recovering the funds)....

See here: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-185-0

Good, the more they manage to crack down on these ICOs and stop people from making tokens at nearly no expense to themselves just so that they can sell a tool for speculation, which is completely forgotten in just a few weeks time, at best, is a good thing. Which I have said many, many times by now on this forum and when talking to other people. Now that the SEC is finally going to start shutting their crap down, it will make sure that ICOs at least try now, and not just operate so that they make money and money only for the devs.

[lighpulsar07]

Well the this is a good thing in this ICOs why? fraudsters is using ICO to scam the customers or the investors and they are spreading like virus and it is hard to trust which is legitimate and which is the fraud ones so, government wants to end this and i support this.

[olubams]

According to a new press release from the SEC, two ICOs have been targeted for enforcement actions -- REcoin and the Diamond Reserve Club, which are apparently run by some fraud named Maksim Zaslavskiy. He claimed that $2 - $4 million was raised in the ICOs, when only $300,000 was raised. He also claimed to have a "team of lawyers, professionals, brokers, and accountants" when apparently none had ever been consulted. There is an emergency court order to freeze his assets (but good luck to the victims in recovering the funds)....

See here: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2017-185-0

If this is happening, then its good news after all. Going after them is all that matter and also sending a message to those who have the intention that SEC is  watching them as there is no where to hide. Its obvious that they had scam intention from the beginning its a different thing not to raise up to expectations then return funds to the owner. But lying over the calibre of people brought on board, and the amount raised is an obvious intention to commit fraud and they should pay for it.

[The One]

Why does almost everyone on here think this is a "good thing"?

Typical of stupid people requiring government help to protect stupid people from themselves. How about stupid people pay more taxes, instead of intelligent people paying more taxes to protect stupid people.

Too many socialist fuckwits on this forum. Bugger off, Bitcoin isn't for stupid people.

[jseverson]

This is how it should be. If these fraudulent ICOs are penalized, then countries would not have to ban them as a whole. These scams have been making people wary even of legit ICOs for too long.

As for stupid people needing protection from the government, well... that's just how it is. To me, it's not so much protecting stupid people, it's more of scammers being prosecuted. The world is a better place without them.

[Collinslevi]

An ICO works the same way as an initial public offering in that it’s a way for a company to raise money from the public. In a typical ICO, which can last anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, the company invites people to buy tokens (aka digital coins) to fund a project. These projects involve blockchain software such as Ethereum, which runs across multiple computers in order to create a tamper-proof digital ledger. The software can also be programmed to do things like create so-called smart contracts or make investments. To take part in the ICO, supporters of the project send digital money like bitcoin (or in some cases use credit cards) to a website run by the company and then receive digital tokens in return.

[nareshrohra]

That's a good thing. If the SEC is concerned about safeguarding our (investor's) interests then it is good by all means. It just means that they are taking the ICO business for serious, accepting it as a form of a business transaction and ready to invest their resources in it.