Yesterday, blockchain firm Block.one announced it settled a dispute regarding an initial coin offering (ICO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Under the settlement agreement, Block.one agreed to pay $24 million to the SEC. However, the recipient of the proceeds from the multi-billion EOS ICO did not admit or deny any infractions as per the SEC findings.
The settlement concerns an ERC-20 token sold via the Ethereum network between June 26, 2017, and June 1, 2018. The SEC stated that the token was not registered as a security before Block.one sold about 900 million units raising in the region of $4 billion, the largest ICO to date. It also said that Block.one continued to sell the token for nearly a year after SEC released the
DAO Report of Investigation which clarified the SEC’s position that most ICO issuances are securities. Without an exemption from registration requirements, the ICO had come under the SEC scanner.
“A number of US investors participated in Block.one’s ICO,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.
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