Biz Builder Mike

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Report States that US Intelligence is Worried About China’s Involvement in Cryptocurrency

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A report claims that the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) John Ratcliffe has contacted SEC Chairman Jay Clayton regarding China’s influence in the crypto market including mining.

According to the Washington Examiner, the DNI is worried that China has too much control when it comes to crypto.  Reportedly, a senior intelligence official told the publication the following:

“There are serious national security concerns about China’s control over Bitcoin and Ether … The president’s recent executive order made abundantly clear the threat posed by securities investments that finance Communist Chinese military companies. Digital currency controlled by the CCP could certainly fall into that category, but the bottom line is that we cannot allow China to dominate the technologies and innovations that are going to decide who runs the world for decades to come — from artificial intelligence to digital currency, and everything in between.”

The same report pointed to recent tweets by Ripple’s General Counsel – commenting on China’s influence in the crypto markets:

The relationship between the Trump administration and China has been fractious at best. In fact, China is frequently criticized by the current President regarding an ongoing trade dispute. Some people anticipate that once the Biden administration moves into power the rhetoric directed at China may be toned down as public officials change policy direction.

While the DNI may have sent a letter to the SEC regarding their concerns pertaining to crypto, expect little action to take place as the current Chairman has already announced his departure from the agency at the end of the year.

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On Final Day of Securities Offering, Mintos Tops £7 Million on Crowdcube

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Peer to peer lending marketplace Mintos has surpassed £7 million on Crowdcube on the final day of the securities offering. The Mintos security offering should be one of the largest offerings on Crowdcube for 2020.

Mintos is raising equity capital at a pre-money valuation of £68 million. Currently, 6816 individuals have participated in the securities offering that set an initial hurdle of just £1 million.

Mintos is an interesting platform as it aggregates p2p loans from regional platforms and then consolidates the debt offerings for investors to select specific loans.

Mintos reports an investor base of approximately 340,000, growing at over 125% per year for 5 years. It claims a 45% market share in continental Europe with €5.7 billion in loans funded. While Mintos growth has been strong during the past few years, it has been hit by the COVID health crisis as some of its partner lenders have struggled in the challenging economic.

It is important to note that Mintos, headquartered in Latvia, expects to secure Investment Firm and EMI licenses by early 2021. By receiving this regulatory approval, Mintos will be able to operate across the EU providing a larger portfolio of financial services and perhaps operate more like a digital bank.

Have a crowdfunding offering you’d like to share? Submit an offering for consideration using our Submit a Tip form and we may share it on our site!

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Rapper T.I.’s associates to cough up $100K in FLiK token case with SEC

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Three associates of Clifford Joseph Harris Jr., a rapper also known as T.I. who was responsible for helping launch the FLiK token, have agreed to pay more than $100,000 after a U.S. district court approving a settlement.

According to records filed Nov. 17 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Chance White, Owen Smith, and William Sparks Jr. will pay $102,992 in a settlement covering penalties, fees, and disgorgements for their role in selling tokens in initial coin offerings, or ICOs, for FLiK and CoinSpark. T.I., a rapper, singer, and songwriter, has won three Grammy Awards and had several hit singles including Whatever You Like and Live Your Life.

The SEC announced charges against the three in September along with Ryan Felton, founder of video production company AVA, and T.I., alleging that the ICOs were “unregistered and fraudulent.” Sparks, who is T.I.’s social media manager, was charged with violating registration provisions by allegedly selling FLiK tokens on the rapper’s social media accounts.

White and Smith, who are both involved in the Atlanta film industry, were charged with violating registration and anti-touting provisions for allegedly promoting CoinSpark without revealing they were being paid for their endorsement of the token.

The trio agreed to settlements at that time, which were approved by the court on Tuesday. The SEC’s case against Felton is reportedly still ongoing, while the commission ordered T.I. to pay a $75,000 penalty and not participate in offerings or sales of digital-asset securities for at least five years.

FLiK was one of many tokens announced during the 2017 ICO boom. When the token was launched that September, Felton claimed on social media that FLiK would see “tremendous growth in one year” and be redeemable for $14.99 in 15 months. However, the price of the token only reached $0.21 at its peak on Oct. 17 and is currently being traded at $0.000289 according to data from CoinMarketCap.

In 2018, a group of 25 investors named Felton and T.I. in a class-action lawsuit accusing them of running a pump-and-dump scheme with FLiK by hyping up the token using misleading information and celebrity endorsements.

The group’s legal team later amended the lawsuit to include comedian Kevin Hart for his alleged role. A U.S. district judge dismissed the suit against T.I. earlier this year, stating he found no concrete evidence of securities violations or negligent misrepresentation regarding the rapper touting FLiK.

Rapper T.I.’s associates to cough up $100K in FLiK token case with SEC

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