Share this article
SEC Charges Token Sale Platform ICOBox With Securities Violations
The SEC has charged ICOBox and its founder with violating securities and registration requirements with its token sale and operations.
By Nikhilesh De
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 11:27 a.m. Published Sep 18, 2019, 8:46 p.m.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that ICOBox and founder Nikolay Evdokimov violated securities laws with its 2017 token sale and subsequent activity facilitating other initial coin offerings (ICOs).
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
Wednesday, Evdokimov raised $14.6 million by selling "ICOS" tokens to more than 2,000 individuals, promising customers that the tokens would increase in value once it began trading. Moreover, token holders were told they could purchase other tokens on the ICOBox platform at a discount using their ICOS tokens.
"According to the complaint, the ICOS tokens are virtually worthless," the release says.
The complaint itself specifies
that, "ICOBox and Evdokimov told investors that the offering proceeds would be used to cover the cost of providing ICOBox’s planned services to digital asset startups that could not afford them," adding:
"Defendants claimed that ICOBox would be successful — and the ICOS tokens valuable — due to the efforts of ICOBox’s management team, who would curate potential digital asset projects and attract '100+' clients per month. As of the date of ICOBox’s offering, ICOBox had yet to support a single token sale to completion."
In addition to the sale itself, ICOBox facilitated the sale of another $650 million in token sale for "dozens of clients" through its platform, thereby acting as an unregistered broker, Wednesday's release said.
The agency is looking for Evdokimov and ICOBox to refund investors with interest, pay civil money penalties and suffer injunctive relief.
In a statement, SEC Los Angeles Regional Office director Michele Wein Layne said, "by ignoring the registration requirements of the federal securities laws, ICOBox and Evdokimov exposed investors to investments, which are now virtually worthless, without providing information that is critical to making informed investment decisions."
SEC 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
Japan’s Higher Rates Puts Bitcoin in the Crosshairs of a Yen Carry Unwind
A stronger yen typically coincides with de-risking across macro portfolios, and that dynamic could tighten liquidity conditions that recently helped bitcoin rebound from November’s lows.
What to know:
- The Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates to 0.75% at its December meeting, the highest since 1995, affecting global markets including cryptocurrencies.
- A stronger yen could lead to de-risking in macro portfolios, impacting liquidity conditions that have supported bitcoin's recent recovery.
- Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated a high probability of a rate hike, with officials prepared for further tightening if their economic outlook supports it.
Top Stories
