ICO Archives - Green Market Report

Debra BorchardtNovember 16, 2018
img_paragon-1.jpg

5min00

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it has reached settlements with two companies that sold digital tokens in initial coin offerings or ICO’s. Cannabis-related company Paragon Coin was one of the businesses investigated by the SEC.

The SEC said that Paragon raised approximately $12 million worth of digital assets to develop and implement its business plan to add blockchain technology to the cannabis industry and work toward legalization of cannabis. The SEC statement wrote that Paragon did not register its ICO pursuant to the federal securities laws, nor did it qualify for an exemption to the registration requirements.

“We have made it clear that companies that issue securities through ICOs are required to comply with existing statutes and rules governing the registration of securities,” said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division.  “These cases tell those who are considering taking similar actions that we continue to be on the lookout for violations of the federal securities laws with respect to digital assets.”

Paragon faces a $250,000 penalty and must compensate the investors. They must register the tokens as securities and file periodic reports with the SEC. “By providing investors who purchased securities in these ICOs with the opportunity to be reimbursed and having the issuers register their tokens with the SEC, these orders provide a model for companies that have issued tokens in ICOs and seek to comply with the federal securities laws,” said Steven Peikin, Co-Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division.

Paragon’s CEO Jessica Ver Steeg would not comment on the settlement. However, it was well known that the money raised from the ICO was used to acquire a building in order to create a co-working space for cannabis startups in Los Angeles, called Paragon Space.

Paragon faced a lawsuit not long after the ICO. The lawsuit stated that approximately between August 15, 2017, through October 16, 2017, the defendants raised at least $70 million in digital cryptocurrencies by offering and selling unregistered securities in direct violation of the Securities Act. It also stated that on November 2, 2017,  Paragon ICO investors received an email updating them that during the Paragon ICO “crowd sale” they had collected 533 BTC and 8,092 ETH— worth approximately $7.3 million and $10.2 million, respectively, as of January 12, 2018. Unfortunately, these amounts did not include any of the cryptocurrencies they collected during the Paragon ICO “presale.”

At the time Ver Steeg said, “Paragon is dedicated to staying compliant with all applicable laws, and endeavored to do so throughout the entire ICO process. As U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton recently stated, “there are cryptocurrencies that do not appear to be securities,” and whether an initial coin offering implicates the securities laws “depends on the facts.” We are confident that the ParagonCoin token is not a security and can prove so in a court of law.” Apparently, the SEC disagreed.

In order to reimburse the investors, it will need to somehow retrieve the tokens from the market, make the investors whole and then reregister the tokens as securities. A daunting task to be sure.

Paragon’s case follows the SEC’s first non-fraud ICO registration case, Munchee, Inc.  The Commission did not impose a penalty or include undertakings from Munchee, which stopped its offering before delivering any tokens and promptly returned proceeds to investors.

Blockchain

Paragon is moving forward with its ParagonChain, based on smart-contract interaction with the Ethereum blockchain. The company said it would begin to roll out user interfaces for different aspects of the supply chain, for both cannabis businesses and consumers. Paragon said it has entered into agreements with several major cannabis companies who are expected to start using ParagonChain for their day-to-day operations as early as December, including Dreamfields, Fundanna, Flux, Oakland Distribution, Pearl Pharma, Mammoth Labs, and THC Design (TBD).

 

 

 

 

 


Debra BorchardtFebruary 6, 2018
shutterstock_777487033.jpg

5min05

A lawsuit was filed against cannabis cryptocurrency brand Paragon Coin and its owners Jessica VerSteeg and her husband Egor Lavrov for allegedly violating Securities law with regards to the Paragon Initial Coin Offering (ICO).

The lawsuit states that approximately between August 15, 2017, through October 16, 2017, the defendants raised at least $70 million in digital cryptocurrencies by offering and selling unregistered securities in direct violation of the Securities Act. It also stated that on November 2, 2017,  Paragon ICO investors received an email updating them that during the Paragon ICO “crowd sale” they had collected 533 BTC and 8,092 ETH— worth approximately $7.3 million and $10.2 million, respectively, as of January 12, 2018. Unfortunately, these amounts did not include any of the cryptocurrencies they collected during the Paragon ICO “presale.”

The plaintiff Astley Davy states that the offer of the ICO was an unregistered security and cites the use of words like investors and assets as evidence that the ICO was being portrayed as a securities product.

Jessica VerSteeg, CEO of Paragon said, “Paragon is dedicated to staying compliant with all applicable laws, and endeavored to do so throughout the entire ICO process. As U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton recently stated, “there are cryptocurrencies that do not appear to be securities,” and whether an initial coin offering implicates the securities laws “depends on the facts.” We are confident that the ParagonCoin token is not a security and can prove so in a court of law. Paragon holds itself to a high standard of compliance with our token holders and will continue to do so as it moves forward.”

Securities And Exchange Commission

The lawsuit states “The SEC advised those using “distributed ledger or blockchain-enabled means for capital raising, to take appropriate steps to ensure compliance” with the federal securities laws, and stated that “[a]ll securities offered and sold in the United States must be registered with the Commission . . .” or qualify for an exemption from registration. On the same day, the SEC issued an investor bulletin urging caution when investing in ICOs and to be mindful that promoters and initial sellers that lead buyers of tokens to expect a return on their investment or participate in shared returns provided by the project may be offering a security for sale.”

Yet, on December 11, 2017, the SEC warned that “investors should understand that to date no initial coin offerings have been registered with the SEC.  The SEC also has not to date approved for listing and trading any exchange-traded products (such as ETFs) holding cryptocurrencies or other assets related to cryptocurrencies.[2]  If any person today tells you otherwise, be especially wary. ” This is the SEC’s bold-faced type.

Capital For Real Estate

The plaintiff was also upset that some of the money raised was being used to acquire real estate even though it was stated that would be a goal. Yet, in Paragon’s white paper it said, “[t]he lion’s share of the token crowdsale [sic] proceeds will be spent on real-estate acquisition.”

Repayment

The plaintiff expected that its investment would increase in value and now wants to be repaid what was invested. So, how much did Davy invest?

Plaintiff invested in the Paragon ICO on September 21, 2017, September 23, 2017,
September 28, 2017, September 30, 2017, October 3, 2017, and October 15, 2017, by transmitting
0.04095 BTC, 0.03975 BTC, 0.57855 ETH, 0.0231 BTC, 0.03495 BTC, and 0.04579484 BTC,
respectively, to Defendants.

It remains to be seen how much sympathy the judge will feel for the plaintiff losing their bitcoins in a case against fraudulent bitcoin. Check out Bitcoin Era review for additional bitcoin information.


Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.

 Sign up


About Us

The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Our target approach filters out the daily noise and does a deep dive into the financial, business and economic side of the cannabis industry. Our team is cultivating the industry’s critical news into one source and providing open source insights and data analysis


READ MORE



Recent Tweets

Get the latest cannabis news delivered right to your inbox

The Morning Rise

Unpack the industry with the daily cannabis newsletter for business leaders.