• Latest
SEC airfox

Despite SEC Registration and Fines, Airfox Hires New CFO

1 week ago
Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

3 hours ago
bitcoin

TradingView Accepting Bitcoin for Newly-Launched Dedicated ‘Crypto Dashboard’

7 hours ago
monero vs zcash

Battle of the Privacy Coins: Monero vs. Zcash

11 hours ago
Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

15 hours ago
wyoming crypto

Wyoming Pushes Bill into Law for Property Rights on Digital Assets

19 hours ago
Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin Price Analysis: Will Second Halving Carry LTC to the Moon?

23 hours ago
JPMorgan

Meet JPMorgan’s JPM Coin: The First Bank-Backed Cryptocurrency

1 day ago
Ripple (XRP)

A Sign of Things to Come: Mastercard, Barclays, and MIT Throw Cash at XRP Startup

1 day ago
buy bitcoin

Bitcoin Bottom Is In (Claims Chinese Billionaire)

1 day ago
Litecoin

Litecoin (LTC) Price Prediction and Forecast – Privacy Coin? (14/02/2019)

1 day ago
bitcoin ethereum retirement

Public Pension Funds Venture Cryptocurrency Investment

2 days ago
bitcoin venezuela maduro

Bitcoin Trading In Venezuela Keeps Setting New Records

2 days ago
BeInCrypto
  • Featured
    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    monero vs zcash

    Battle of the Privacy Coins: Monero vs. Zcash

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    wyoming crypto

    Wyoming Pushes Bill into Law for Property Rights on Digital Assets

    Litecoin (LTC)

    Litecoin Price Analysis: Will Second Halving Carry LTC to the Moon?

    JPMorgan

    Meet JPMorgan’s JPM Coin: The First Bank-Backed Cryptocurrency

  • Latest News
    • All
    • (BCH) Bitcoin Cash News
    • (BTC) Bitcoin News
    • (ETH) Ethereum News
    • (LTC) Litecoin News
    • (XRP) Ripple News
    • Altcoin News
    • Regulation News
    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    bitcoin

    TradingView Accepting Bitcoin for Newly-Launched Dedicated ‘Crypto Dashboard’

    monero vs zcash

    Battle of the Privacy Coins: Monero vs. Zcash

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    wyoming crypto

    Wyoming Pushes Bill into Law for Property Rights on Digital Assets

  • Analysis
    • All
    • Altcoin Analysis
    • Bitcoin Analysis
    • Ethereum Analysis
    monero vs zcash

    Battle of the Privacy Coins: Monero vs. Zcash

    Litecoin (LTC)

    Litecoin Price Analysis: Will Second Halving Carry LTC to the Moon?

    buy bitcoin

    Bitcoin Bottom Is In (Claims Chinese Billionaire)

    Litecoin

    Litecoin (LTC) Price Prediction and Forecast – Privacy Coin? (14/02/2019)

    bitstamp review

    Bitstamp Review 2019 — Is Bitstamp Still Europe’s Leading Exchange?

    Trending Tags

    • Coinbase News
    • Binance News
    • (USDT) Tether News
    • Bitfinex News
    • Kraken News
  • Industry
    • All
    • Blockchain News
    • Companies News
    • Mining News
    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

    bitcoin

    TradingView Accepting Bitcoin for Newly-Launched Dedicated ‘Crypto Dashboard’

    monero vs zcash

    Battle of the Privacy Coins: Monero vs. Zcash

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    Twitter Survey: Bitcoin is Primarily Bought as a Store of Value

    wyoming crypto

    Wyoming Pushes Bill into Law for Property Rights on Digital Assets

    Trending Tags

    • (XLM) Stellar News
    • EOS News
    • (TRX) TRON News
    • BitMEX News
    • (XMR) Monero News
    • Gemini News
  • About
    • The Team
    • Our Mission
    • Contact Us
    • Editorial Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Disclaimer
No Result
View All Result
BeInCrypto

Home » Despite SEC Registration and Fines, Airfox Hires New CFO

Despite SEC Registration and Fines, Airfox Hires New CFO

by Alexander Fred
6 February, 2019 at 9:26 EST
in Altcoin News, Companies News, Industry, News, Regulation News, Top Stories
0
SEC airfox
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

On Feb 4, 2019, it was announced that Douglas Lopes had been appointed as the global Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Airfox.

This appointment follows less than three months after the company settled with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and Massachusetts Securities Division (MSD). As a result of the settlement, Airfox was forced to register its AirTokens (AIR) as a security and pay a number of monetary penalties.

SEC

Airfox Vs. the SEC

In 2016, Airfox was created to provide financial services to the underbanked and unbanked people of the world. This was to be accomplished using a mobile app and AIR. Currently, the mobile app has been deployed in Brazil, where Airfox reports a $39 billion annual market potential providing financial services to the unbanked.

To support the initiative, Airfox hosted an ICO sale in 2017. The sale was completed on Oct. 5 with around $15 million raised from over 2,500 investors. Approximately 1.06 billion AIR were sold.

This information was published in a cease and desist order presented to Airfox on Nov 16, 2018. There, it was alleged that AIR was a security offering sold in America and across the world by an American company without proper registration.

The case could have been taken to court, but Airfox instead settled with the SEC to whom it paid an alleged $250,000 civil penalty. Another $100,000 was supposedly paid to the MSD while an undetermined amount of funds have been returned to investors who purchased tokens before Oct 5, 2017. Refunds were given by completing a claim form and providing proper documentation of purchase. Furthermore, Airfox was forced to register AIR as a class of securities. Trading of AIR ceased until registration is complete.

Despite, these enforcement actions, the Airfox app has been deployed in Brazil where users can pay bills, receive loans, send capital, and much more. A reward system for watching advertisements is expected to be launched in the future.

Furthermore, the appointment of Lopes as global CFO suggests that Airfox may be planning operations in countries other than Brazil. Two countries that are likely for future operations are Mexico and India, which are both listed on Airfox’s website with a reported $24 billion and $12 billion annual market potential respectively.

SEC

Beyond Airfox

ParagonCoin (PRG), developed for the cannabis industry, was also labeled a security offering by the SEC in Nov 2018. Like Airfox, Paragon settled with the SEC. Neither of these cases ever made it to court, and the SEC still has failed to explain the difference between a securitized and non-securitized ICO offering.

Similarly, Blockvest was targeted by the SEC who filed an injunction against the company on Oct 3, 2018. As a result, Blockvest was unable to successfully complete its ICO. In contrast to Paragon and Airfox, Blockvest didn’t settle but instead went to court against the SEC. On Nov 28, 2018, Judge Curiel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California went against the SEC ruling that the Blockvest ICO was not a security offering.

Kin, a cryptocurrency developed by Kik, has also been targeted by the SEC. The KIN ICO which raised over $100 million might possibly be classified as a security offering after a vote from the SEC commissioners. When this vote is to take place, has not yet been announced. Kik’s primary argument against the SEC is that KIN is a currency, which is exempt from consideration as a security according to the 1934 Securities Exchange Act.

Airfox’s AIR also appears designed like a currency developed to support the movement of capital to the unbanked and underbanked in areas of the world lacking financial resources. However, Airfox did not use this argument against the SEC.

Instead, the company simply accepted the verdict, settled, and continued business as planned. It appears that fighting the SEC may not have been in the interest of Airfox who appears to be growing and planning new ventures across the world with the most recent appointment of Lopes.

Will either side win the war of ICOs against the SEC? Will the two be able to coexist peacefully in the future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below! 


Images courtesy of Shutterstock

Tags: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Share6Tweet4Share
Alexander Fred

Alexander Fred

Alexander Fred writes for BeInCrypto where he completes technical analyses of various alt-coins and qualitative commentary and analysis about various cryptoassets and their potential for social integration. Email me!

Discussion about this post

BeInCrypto

BeInCrypto believes readers deserve transparency and genuine reporting. As such, we do not accept payment for articles. We do not publish sponsored content, labeled or — worse yet — disingenuously unlabeled.

Follow Us

Latest News

Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

Satoshi Roundtable: What to Expect from Bitcoin and Cryptoassets in 2019

15/02/2019
bitcoin

TradingView Accepting Bitcoin for Newly-Launched Dedicated ‘Crypto Dashboard’

15/02/2019

The Top 5 Crypto News Delivered Weekly

Get BeInCrypto weekly newsletter on your inbox.

  • Work With Us
  • Submit a Press Release
  • Disclaimer
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact

Copyright © beincrypto.com

  • Latest News
  • Top Stories
  • Topics
    • Altcoin News
    • (BCH) Bitcoin Cash News
    • (BTC) Bitcoin News
    • (ETH) Ethereum News
    • (LTC) Litecoin News
    • Regulation News
    • (XRP) Ripple News
  • Analysis
    • Altcoin Analysis
    • Bitcoin Analysis
    • Ethereum Analysis
  • Technology
    • Blockchain News
    • Companies News
    • Mining News
  • Reviews
  • Editorial Team
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Disclaimer
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.