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Shady ICO Issuers Are Taking 'Bags of Cash' To Border, US Says (bloomberg.com)

A top financial regulator gave a strong warning this week that U.S. scrutiny of initial coin offerings is just getting started. From a report: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, speaking at a conference in New York, said companies raising money through digital-token sales shouldn't have any illusions that the government will treat them differently than firms participating in traditional stock offerings. He added that the market deserves close attention because the SEC has already seen examples of fraudsters fleeing the country after persuading U.S. investors to back their ICOs. "I am not going to change the way we approach the offering and trading of securities as a result of the fact that you put it in the form of a token," Clayton said at the Sandler O'Neill Global Exchange and Brokerage Conference. "I'm protecting the integrity of the market. The behavior we see in this is pretty bad. We've got guys with bags of cash headed to the border. That's not our securities market."

46 comments

  1. Everyone has a scam but me. by registrations_suck · · Score: 4, Funny

    Everyone has a scam but me. Bastards!!

    1. Re:Everyone has a scam but me. by cayenne8 · · Score: 0

      Everyone has a scam but me. Bastards!!

      No shit...

      I keep wondering when "I" can find one of these gravy trains.....and quit fscking working!!!

      ;)

      I just know there's a sucker out there waiting to be found....

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    2. Re:Everyone has a scam but me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a scam I'm not using. It's got some miner wear along the fronds, but it's still fully functional.

      I'd be willing to sell it to you for $5,000.

    3. Re: Everyone has a scam but me. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm launching a new coin, Standard Coin for Ai Machines. First funding round launching soon. Get in early. Beat the crowds. Looking for 500% growth in the first month.

    4. Re:Everyone has a scam but me. by PPH · · Score: 1

      Most people want either less corruption or more of a chance to participate in it.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  2. lolsaywatnow? by Thud457 · · Score: 2

    Shady ICO fraudsters are taking bags of cash across the border exactly where now? That sounds risky, somebody might steal their bags.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:lolsaywatnow? by nnet · · Score: 0

      Mexico.

    2. Re:lolsaywatnow? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I thought they were going to build a Wallmart?

    3. Re:lolsaywatnow? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      So the wall is not finished yet?
      That sounds really bad!

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  3. Protect The Gambling Den At All Costs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So much for "free market".

    1. Re:Protect The Gambling Den At All Costs by PPH · · Score: 1

      [Stops you at door] Where do you think you are going with your winnings, buddy? Aren't you going to give us a chance to win some back?

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  4. How did I miss the Shady ICO? by olsmeister · · Score: 1

    Can someone point me towards some info? TIA.

  5. Flee at once, all is discovered! by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

    Send this as an anonymous letter to each company raising money, and see what then happens ...

  6. Day late and a dollar short by jandrese · · Score: 4

    So the regulators are just now waking up to the fact that this ICO explosion is almost entirely scams and money laundering? Are they going to take another two years to actually start prosecuting? This whole situation is completely ridiculous and the government has been sitting on the sidelines going "this is fine".

    --

    I read the internet for the articles.
    1. Re: Day late and a dollar short by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because initially the people getting scammed were libertarians living in their parent's basement. The government only steps in now that some rich and powerful people have been famously ripped off.

    2. Re:Day late and a dollar short by iggymanz · · Score: 2

      only stupid people fell for them. just like only stupid people *invest* in bitcoin. serves them right

    3. Re:Day late and a dollar short by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's okay, the free market will sort things out.

    4. Re:Day late and a dollar short by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's hard for the government to regulate when the majority of this country beats the "all regulation is evil and will kill my grandmother" drum.

    5. Re:Day late and a dollar short by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 1

      When haven't regulators, at least in the U.S, been late to truly wake up to something new? Loads of companies out there literally rely on regulators being asleep at the wheel, probably the best known examples are "ride sharing" companies like Uber and the whole payday loan industry.

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
  7. Fun Size ICO by jep77 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    There's a guy in my office whose name is Bill, but he goes by Fun Size. Anyway, Fun Size says a lot of stuff about block chain and ICOs and I usually agree with him. The other day he was telling me that block chains are better than the round ones because he doesn't believe in cutting corners.

  8. Bags of cash from Minnesota too by John+Jorsett · · Score: 4, Informative

    The Powerlineblog guys have been running a series of posts about the state of Minnesota getting scammed on reimbursements for phony child care services and cash getting shipped out in bags back to the home countries of the immigrants who are bilking the system. They say it's gotten so bad that people are buying "shares" of fake child care providers in order to participate in the looting, and Minnesota Bureau of Investigation is busily investigating and indicting people.

    1. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm sure they're all dark skinned and bad smelling

    2. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is what (not so)soft racism looks like folks.

      Back to facebook grandpa.

    3. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by judoguy · · Score: 1

      Almost entirely Somali, though this report doesn't mention that: http://m.startribune.com//minn...

      --
      Peace is easy to achieve, just surrender. Liberty is much harder get/keep.
    4. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 1

      He didn't even mention the race of the perpetrators and all races commit some form of fraud so I have a hard time understanding what's so racist about bringing up child care fraud. Are we operating on some kind of "close enough" logic where if the perpetrators of a crime skew too much to a particular race talking about even with the race component removed is somehow racist?

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
    5. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To answer your question, yes.

    6. Re:Bags of cash from Minnesota too by The+Cynical+Critic · · Score: 1

      Right... Please refrain from speaking your mind on matters like this is future.

      --
      "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without wanting to invent any more of it."
  9. Every ICO tarred with same brush? by presidenteloco · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Ether was introduced with an ICO.

    So was it a security? Or "gas" for a crypto-contract platform?

    Was it a scam? Probably not.

    How will government decide which tokens are securities vs some functional thing or (attempted) currency, e.g. what about stable coins?

    Is it going to be arbitrary, with a few grandfathered lucky winners that got through before the regulations, or are the regulations going to be updated to handle the subtleties of the crypto-token economy? I mean bitcoins are tokens just as much as anything else is; that is, a unique and hard to forge bitstring with some external respresentational significance?

    What should the principles and distinctions for regulation really be?

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
    1. Re:Every ICO tarred with same brush? by sexconker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Every ICO is a scam.

    2. Re:Every ICO tarred with same brush? by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      I'm also wondering where he sees a "stable coin" maybe doge?(lol)

    3. Re:Every ICO tarred with same brush? by Pinky's+Brain · · Score: 1

      Ether would have been better suited to crowdfunding, promising development milestones together with the coins for funding levels.

  10. Perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bitcoin is not much better than some guy fleeing to Mexico with your money.

    1. Re:Perspective by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Bitcoin is stable enough for all your money laundering needs.

      IMHO only a fool invests in bitcoin, that's not what it's for. It's _purpose_ is to evade capital controls. In and out, in under a day. Fuck the feds.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Perspective by sexconker · · Score: 1

      This isn't about Bitcoin. This is about shitty "ICO" scams. These almost all run on Ethereum, because the network is designed to allow "smart contracts" and there are turn key solutions for rolling your own ICO and setting up a shiny but hollow website for it.

      Someone gives you Ethereum. You give them your new, worthless coin. You promise you're going place, you're doing things, etc., and that investors in your ICO will soon be able to go to those places with you and to do those things with you.

      A few months later, when suckers stop hopping on, you shut it all down. The only place you go is away and the only thing you do is take all the Ethereum with you. The suckers who traded Ethereum for your worthless shit are left holding the bag while you're free to sell that Ethereum for USD.

      I can't even name a single ICO running on top of Ethereum that hasn't played out exactly as described above.

    3. Re:Perspective by mbkennel · · Score: 1

      "Someone gives you Ethereum. You give them your new, worthless coin. You promise you're going place, you're doing things, etc., and that investors in your ICO will soon be able to go to those places with you and to do those things with you.

      A few months later, when suckers stop hopping on, you shut it all down. The only place you go is away and the only thing you do is take all the Ethereum with you. The suckers who traded Ethereum for your worthless shit are left holding the bag while you're free to sell that Ethereum for USD.

      I can't even name a single ICO running on top of Ethereum that hasn't played out exactly as described above."

      s/Ethereum/Dollars/g
      s/coin/shares/g
      s/2018/1999/g

  11. Correction: All *currencies* are scams by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
    For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?

    The example is cherry picked to try and make your case. No, I don't think they are really equals...

    But you started with the more generic concept asking if ANY fiat-currency and crypto-curency are equal.

    Well then, please explain to use why you think Bitcoin is inferior to the Venezuelan bolivar...

    The truth is that some crypto-currencies are very much worth more than fiat-currencies, and are substantially more stable.

    The truth is that fiat currencies at this point operate almost as much on shared belief as any crypto-currency.

    The truth is that fiat and major crypto currencies are all backed up to one degree or another by large holders of same, who will not let the value fall below a certain amount... it is weaker crypto (and real) currencies that lack that backing that become scams and disasters.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. Take the bags to Capitol Hill, not the border. by shess · · Score: 1

    Financial companies are only allowed to defraud the public insofar as they support political campaigns. Plain old fraud will not be tolerated!

  13. Lets rephrase that shall we by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, speaking at a conference in New York, said that random dudes raising money through digital-token sales shouldn't have any illusions that the government will treat them differently than firms participating in traditional pyramid schemes. He added that the market deserves close attention because the SEC has already seen examples of fraudsters fleeing the country after persuading random internet morons to give them money.

  14. No TRUE securities market... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I'm protecting the integrity of the market. The behavior we see in this is pretty bad. We've got guys with bags of cash headed to the border. That's not our securities market."

    Uh huh, sure. True securities market guys would never head to the border with bags of cash. They fly to the Caymans or Panama after wiring the money there. Duh.

  15. Impersonating me YET again, eh? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    See subject: Tell me your REAL name, address & phone # so we can meet in person to settle this face to face/man to man you "not man" weasel.

    OK?

    APK

    P.S.=> Pray to God I never find out who & where you are... apk

  16. Re:No shidy ICO with APKoin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why -1? That's pure gold!