The company determined within hours to shut down its offering, did not deliver any tokens to purchasers, and returned to purchasers the proceeds that it had received to avoid further damage. Despite Munchee stating that its token in accordance with the Howey test was not a security – with reference to the DAO report -, the SEC intervened and contacted Munchee on the second day of its ICO, advised the company that MUN tokens were securities pursuant to the Securities Act. Munchee, which had created a restaurant review app, had intended to raise $15 million in capital so that it could improve its existing app and recruit users to eventually buy advertisements, write reviews, sell food and conduct other transactions using MUN. On December 11, 2017, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) ordered a California startup, incorporated in Delaware, to halt its ICO. China and South Korea harden their stance, but there are a number of regulatory and compliance aspects that the crypto industry might have to be more concerned about like, for example, the increased enforcement action.

There are still large amounts of money in the sector though and despite the voices that tell us that the end is nigh, there is also plenty of optimism.īut let’s look at the facts: more authorities continue to issue warnings about cryptocurrencies in similar fashion to what started during the summer of 2017 and what we have seen already in the second half of last year. It is the most tangible sign that things may have turned sour and that the craze might eventually come to an end. It’s been dark days for crypto investors when the seemingly never-ending rise in value of cryptocurrencies hit a solid wall right before Christmas when Bitcoin and many other coins drop rapidly from their all time highs and despite periods of hope never recovered to their previous levels. The recent dip in Bitcoin, Ethereum and co might be the most visible indication but it is actually the regulatory aspects that need to be focused on. Sure, we still see massive gains from coin investments and every day we see new ICOs being announced or launched. The signs are that the honeymoon is over for the cryptocurrency industry and that reality is taking slowly, but steadily over.

Cryptocurrency rainmeter