Category: Bitcoin

SEC Busts Fraudulent ICO Centra Endorsed By Floyd Mayweather

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged two co-founders of a supposed financial services start-up with organizing a fraudulent initial coin offering (ICO), the SEC announced in a press release April 2.

The SEC says the the co-founders of Centra Tech. Inc., Sohrab Sharma and Robert Farkas, were arrested and charged after raising $32 mln in unregistered investments through a “CTR Token”. Farkas had made arrangements to leave the country, but was detained before boarding his flight.

According to the SEC, Sharma and Farkas claimed the company would offer a variety of financial products, including a debit card backed by Visa and MasterCard, with which users could instantly convert cryptocurrencies into US dollars and other legal tender. The SEC says that no such agreement or relationship existed between Centra Tech. Inc. and Visa or Mastercard.

The US financial watchdog further alleges that Sharma and Farkas promoted their fraudulent ICO by creating fictional executives with impressive resumes and biographies, posting “false or misleading” market materials, in addition to paying celebrities to promote the ICO. American boxer Floyd Mayweather supported the ICO on Instagram in a post which has since been removed. Stephanie Avakian, the Co-Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said of the charges:

“We allege that Centra sold investors on the promise of new digital technologies by using a sophisticated marketing campaign to spin a web of lies about their supposed partnerships with legitimate businesses. As the complaint alleges, these and other claims were simply false.”

Sharma and Farkas have officially been charged with violating anti-fraud and registration provisions of federal securities laws. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions and a return of their gains plus interest and penalties. The SEC also intends to bar Sharma and Farkas from serving as public company officers or directors and from participating in any offering of securities, digital or otherwise.

In November of last year, Cointelegraph reported that the SEC warned investors that celebrity-endorsed ICOs could be illegal. The commission claimed that celebrities who promote token sales could be breaching “anti-touting laws” if they do not disclose their compensation.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-busts-fraudulent-ico-endorsed-by-floyd-mayweather-founders-defrauded-32-mln

Related Material: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2018/comp-pr2018-53.pdf

Jack Dorsey: Bitcoin will become the single global currency of the internet

Bitcoin will overtake the dollar in importance as it becomes the single global currency of the internet within a decade, Jack Dorsey, one of Silicon Valley’s leading entrepreneurs, has said.

Despite recent weakness in the value of Bitcoin and concerns that it cannot currently process transactions fast or cheaply enough to act as a currency, Mr Dorsey, who is chief executive of both Twitter and the payments company Square, believes that Bitcoin will overcome these obstacles and will be used to buy everyday items such as coffee.

You can find Jack on Twitter @jack
Source: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/bitcoin-will-become-the-worlds-single-currency-tech-chief-says-66slm0p6b

My First Bitcoin Purchase

I first heard about Bitcoin back when it was trading for about .10 cents per BTC. I didn’t think to much of it other than it was an interesting concept. About a year or so later I was hearing more and more about it and I started my in depth research on it.

To my surprise Bitcoin was exactly what I was looking for as a store of value, a hedge against the falling dollar, a way to transfer large sums of money without expensive fees and a way to control my own capital without third party intervention.

Once I read the white paper it was like love at first site and Bitcoin and I  have been a couple every since. I was being paid in Bitcoin from clients back in 2013 and purchased my very first Bitcoin in the year 2014.

Down the rabbit hole I went 😉

 

 

Tell me about your first Bitcoin purchase below. I’d love to hear the stories.