France’s Market Authority Warns Against Proposed Air Next ICO

France’s markets regulator has warned of the risk of fraud associated with a recently proposed initial coin offering (ICO).

• The Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) announced Thursday that it had been contacted by a company, Air Next, requesting a “visa” for a proposed ICO.
• While issuers aren’t required to apply for an AMF visa, having one allows them to open bank accounts and solicit investments, according to law firm Baker McKenzie.
• The AMF said it suspected that some of the documents submitted by Air Next were forgeries, and has not issued a visa for this ICO or any other token offering by the company.
• Investors are advised to remain vigilant in the event of being approached by Air Next and to avoid referring such approaches to third parties, it said.
• Air Next says it offers a blockchain-based service allowing users to buy plane or train tickets with an instant refund in the event of delay or cancellation.
• The ICO has a hard cap of $700,000, of which $86,660 has been raised at the time of writing, with tokens costing $0.04 each.
• Air Next had not replied to an email seeking comment by publication time.

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