The Australian watchdog, the ASIC, has recently stated finding “consistent problems” which cause it to ban a few ICOs that are attracting retail investors. In spite of the fact that ICOs are allowed in Australia, they remain out of the regulators’ reach.
The guilty ICO makers
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has found that several ICOs which are currently underway are using misleading statements in sales and marketing and are exploiting an illegal investment scheme. The ASIC stated in its report that these coin offerings are bearing major risks for investors.
Apart from that, the regulator mentioned closing down several ICOs in five different cases since spring this year– they implemented no measures for investor protection. Presently, these token offerings are paused, several of them are adjusting their policies to fit the legal requirements.
Darryn PollockCompleted ICOs are also in ASIC’s attention area
The ASIC is also spreading its close attention onto ICO makers that have already passed the stage of token issuing. The “New Dawn Fund” for crypto investment got a stop order on its Product Disclosure Statement that was issued by Investors Exchange Limited (IEL) when the watchdog clearly expressed its concerns. The ASIC mentions that IEL is also in for a final stop order.
ASIC ICO rules
In the past, the security and investments commission already expressed great doubts regarding the fundamental parameters of several ICOs and prevented the emittance of coins before it was conducted.
In 2017, the ASIC produced guidelines for startups wishing to perform ICOs which are compulsory to follow if they want to reach the stage of actually issuing tokens.
Alex Dovbnya
Vladislav Sopov
Dan Burgin