Share this article
SEC Settles With ICO Service Over Undisclosed Payments for Reviews
ICORating agreed to pay $106,998 in interest and a civil penalty of $162,000 without commenting on the SEC's findings.
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:21 a.m. Published Aug 20, 2019, 9:30 p.m.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined Russia-based analytics firm ICORating for failure to disclose payments for positive reviews to various projects.
Today the SEC announced a $268,998 settlement with ICORating for projects rated from December 2017 through July 2018. According to the SEC, projects rated by ICORating during that time raised funds through particular initial coin offerings which the SEC classifies as securities. As such, proper disclosures should have been made to potential investors.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
A platform for rating investments in ICO-based projects, ICORating lists multiple team members from prominent cryptocurrency projects like NEO. No company members were charged in the SEC settlement.
In a statement, Melissa Hodgman, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division said ICORating violated Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933:
“The securities laws require promoters, including both people and entities, to disclose compensation they receive for touting investments so that potential investors are aware they are viewing a paid promotional item. This requirement applies regardless of whether the securities being touted are issued using traditional certificates or on the blockchain.”
ICORating agreed to pay $106,998 in interest and a civil penalty of $162,000 without commenting on the SEC’s findings.
August has proven to be a busy month for the U.S. regulator. Last week, the SEC charged New England-based SimplyVital Health for failing to register a $6.3 million ether pre-sale of its HLTH tokens. On August 13, the SEC took action against two other ICO-based projects, PlexCorps and Reggie Middleton of Veritaseum.
UPDATE (21, August 03:00 UTC): An earlier version of this story stated Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was a team member of ICORating.
Settlement image via Shutterstock
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Bitcoin’s Deep Correction Sets Stage for December Rebound, Says K33 Research
K33 Research says market fear is outweighing fundamentals as bitcoin nears key levels. December could offer an entry point for bold investors.
What to know:
- K33 Research says bitcoin’s steep correction shows signs of bottoming, with December potentially marking a turning point.
- The firm has argued that the market is overreacting to long-term risks while ignoring near-term signals of strength, like low leverage and solid support levels.
- With likely policy shifts ahead and cautious positioning in futures, K33 sees more upside potential than risk of another major collapse.
Top Stories
