Tron-based IEO platform launches amid securities lawsuit

Are IEOs dead? There’s at least one cryptocrypto exchange looking to keep initial exchange offerings alive—despite growing legal uncertainty.

Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, which is partly owned by Tron CEO Justin Sun, today announced the release of LaunchBase, a new token issuance platform. The exchange said it “will collaborate closely with projects, community members and industry-wide partners to seed and promote the adoption of quality cryptocurrencies worldwide, including via the sale of tokens to eligible participants on the Poloniex platform.” 

In the blog post, Poloniex said all participants will be screened for “local law requirements.” Further, the exchange noted that the platform will be exclusive to offerings made in Tron’s TRX cryptocurrency. As such, the first project selected to launch on the platform is a Tron-based stablecoin platform called “JUST.”

Poleinex said TRX tokens are slated to be used on JUST’s Collateralized Debt Position (CDP) portal “to generate USDJ,” a USD-pegged stablecoin. 

But the launch of Poleinex’s new ICO-like platform comes at a potentially inopportune time. Just two days ago, Tron was hit with a class-action lawsuit alleging the sale of unregistered securities in the United States. The claim was just one of several “Red Wedding” lawsuits to come down against some of the biggest firms in crypto over the weekend. Prior, regulatory agencies such as the SEC had signaled they had begun taking a close look at IEOs over potential violations of securities laws.

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The ticking time bomb of ICO class-action suits

Richard Levin was right. For years, the fintech attorney and former Wall Street compliance officer has been predicting that class-action suits would be brought against companies and people involved in unregulated initial coin offerings, or ICOs. “We have only likely begun to see the beginning of class-action lawsuits filed relating to blockchain-related companies or companies that participated in ICOs,” he co-wrote in a March 2018 blog post. “We believe it is highly likely other issuers of token...

Sun’s ties to Poloniex are not without its own controversy. After initially denying any formal involvement with the exchange, Sun later confirmed that he was part of the investor group that acquired the firm following its split from Circle.

Tron’s Sun has aggressively promoted the exchange on social media over the last several months. Today, he continued his cheerleading, congratulating Poloniex on the release of LaunchBase and boasting that “$TRX will be the only eligible currency for purchases.”