South Korea’s ban on initial coin offerings has to stay according to the country’s financial regulator in a statement.
The decision by the South Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) follows a survey which the regulator commissioned. Among the findings of the survey include the fact that some ICO projects misrepresented themselves. For instance, some had claimed to be fundraising abroad but they went on to involve South Koreans.
The FSC said the projects did this by registering in Singapore in order to circumvent South Korea’s ICO ban. Some of the evidence that the FSC obtained included marketing materials and white papers written in Korean.
The FSC also claimed that some of the projects concealed material information from investors including financial statements and company profiles. From the survey, the FSC also concluded that some projects also defrauded investors by offering false information.