Today, Canadian and American regulators coordinated under the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) and executed by New Jersey officials have issued emergency orders against Zoptax and UNOcall, two NJ-based ICOs.
New Jersey’s Bureau of Securities has announced enforcement action against two state-based initial coin offerings.
Part of “Operation Cryptosweep”, the Bureau of Securities alleges both ICOs were offering fraudulent securities offerings. Zoptax was seeking between $500,000 and $3.4 million for its Zoptax Coins while UNOcall was issuing tokens and investments in its staking protocol which offered daily interest returns between 0.18% – 0.88%.
New Jersey’s Attorney General’s Office says the nature of issuance, the purpose of the investments, and misleading consumer information was behind the decision. A full stop on issuance was ordered.
In a statement, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said that market rules apply to all businesses, regardless of the medium they exist on:
“The Bureau of Securities stands ready to enforce our investor protection laws in cases involving initial coin offerings and cryptocurrency-related investment schemes. As innovation in the online cryptocurrency-related investment market continues, market players need to understand that the rules still apply to them.”
Since January 2019, Operation Cryptosweep has 85 pending or completed cases, 330 inquiries or investigations, and eight enforcement actions, including Zoptax and UNOcall.
Initial coin offerings have come into increased scrutiny following a 2017 breakout and subsequent 2018 collapse. Larger regulatory bodies like the CFTC and SEC have recently gone after ICOs as well. Earlier this week, ICO Kik released a 130-page summary rebuttal against the SEC’s recent enforcement action against it.
New Simpsons Episode Features Jim Parsons Giving a Crypto Explainer for the Masses
The latest episode of The Simpsons has delved into the complex world of cryptocurrencies, and managed to break the subject down so probably anyone can understand it.Titled «Frinkcoin,» the show listed on Fox on Feb. 24 features «TV’s most beloved scientist» and «The Big Bang Theory» star Jim Parsons as he appears on-screen to talk about «the really cool subject of distributed consensus-based cryptocurrency.»
«For cryptocurrencies to work, we need a record of every transaction that occurs. These are recorded in what’s called a distributed ledger,» Parsons (who’s definitely «not a nerd») says.
Enter an animated ledger book, that sings, in a slow blues style, a good portion of the tutorial:
«I’m a consensus of shared and synchronized digital data
spread across multiple platforms from Shanghai to Grenada.
Each day I’m closer to being cash of the future.
Not in your wallet, I’m in your computer.»
«When you use the currency, the transaction is recorded in the ledger,» Parsons continues, «and when one ledger book gets filled up, we add to a chain of previous books – that’s the blockchain.»
According to a press release, Parsons voiced himself for the episode, which features Professor Frink as the subject of a Lisa Simpson school essay, creating his own «Frinkcoin» cryptocurrency. Ultimately, he surpasses Mr. Burns as richest man in Springfield.
The snippet also takes a dig at the crypto space with a concluding text that raises the environmental cost of cryptocurrency production and ends with a statement referring to the mysterious inventor of bitcoin: «Also, we know who Satoshi is, but we’re not telling.»
