Big news happened in the closing week of October for the blockchain and cryptocurrency world. Perhaps the biggest event is that Bitmain reportedly confidentially filed for an initial public offering (IPO) with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A new Tencent News report (OTC: TCEHY) says that the Chinese mining giant's application, sponsored by Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), was filed with the SEC earlier this week before a recent management shakeup resulted in the ousting of Bitmain cofounder and executive director Micree Ketuan Zhan. Bitmain will now answer questions from the US regulator before submitting a F1, a certification required for foreign firms before listing in US markets. Bitmain's American IPO dreams follow a failed attempt to go public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018, but the new plan comes along notable blockchain investments in the Asian region. It is unclear how much capital Bitmain is seeking to raise through the public offering.
Here is the rest of the week in review:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it reached a settlement with Reggie Middleton, organizer of the contentious $14.8 million Veritaseum (VERI) initial coin offering (ICO). In an October 31 filing with the New York Eastern District Court dated, Middleton agreed to the consent decree of the final judgment, without having to admit or deny allegations, while waiving a right to appeal. The settlement came three weeks after the court announced that it had entered into settlement discussions. According to the SEC filing, Middleton must pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of $8.47 million, plus a civil penalty of $1 million. The settlement concludes the drama that began in 2017, after the SEC accused Middleton of raising millions of dollars through an ICO without registering with regulators, while misleading investors with false information. The SEC also accused Middleton of manipulating the securities' value and misappropriating at least $520,000 of investor funds for personal use. Besides EOS (EOS) and Siacoin (SC), the Veritaseum case is one of a handful of recent fraudulent ICO settlements.
tZERO, Overstock's (NASDAQ: OSTK) security token platform, and the Tezos (XTZ) Foundation have partnered on a project that will tokenize £500 million in planned British real estate development. The two firms announced Wednesday that the blockchain startups will tokenize portions of properties financed by UK-based Alliance Investments, which will then be open to investors. Rani Zahr, CIO of Alliance Investments, said: "Raising funds through an STO is more efficient, cost-effective, autonomous and democratic than traditional financing." The first offering is due in first quarter 2020, when tZERO will issue security tokens that represent £20 million in equity of a waterfront development currently under construction in Manchester.
Cryptocurrency prices slipped slightly to $246.5 billion this week. For the majors, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Stellar (XLM), and Binance Coin (BNB) posted gains, while Bitcoin SV (BSV), Bitcoin (BTC), and Litecoin (LTC) saw declines. In the top 100, the biggest losers were Swipe (SXP), down 32%, ABBC Coin (ABBC), down 17%, and Crypterium (CRPT), down 12%. The biggest gainers were ILCoin (ILC), up a whopping 110%, Lambda (LAMB), up 69%, and Chiliz (CHZ), up 60%. Next week traders will again watch the important $250 billion level.
The author owns a small amount of BTC and LTC.