Australian Securities and Exchange Commission (ASIC) has barred Bitcoin Group from publishing any statements regarding the initial public offering (IPO) of its shares.
The reasons for issuing the this interim “stop order” however are not disclosed either on ASIC or the Bitcoin Group’s website. But by looking at the current standards of such an order, it can be said that the company was either submitting documents that were misleading or deceptive, or was simply lacking certain information required under the legislation. It is also possible that a new circumstance was emerged after the disclosure document got lodged on June 29th, 2015.
The stop order, however, doesn’t mean that the IPO is blocked. ASIC would need to publish a final stop order to take such an action.
NewsBTC is currently awaiting comments from Bitcoin Group.
Previous Scolding
Earlier this February, Bitcoin Group, according to the ASIC, had also caught distributing its IPO on social media channel “WeChat” before it registered itself as an Australian company, and before the submission of its formal disclosure document to the authorities.
The documentation promoted via WeChat, in which the Bitcoin Group had asked investors to subscribe its shares if it gets listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, was also never lodged with ASIC. The Australian regulator, thereby, was obligated to issue its concerns and subsequent actions.
“ASIC will often review pre-prospectus advertising or publicity to ensure legal requirements are being met,” Commissioner John Price had said in a press statement. “This is because any statements made about a potential offer may influence the investment decisions of consumers who will not have the benefit of all material information that would be included in a prospectus.”
Price meanwhile had reminded the companies about their compulsions regarding advertising and publicity, especially the ones that occur before publishing a regulated prospectus before the potential investors.
It seems Bitcoin Group missed the warning, eventually.
Source: LeapRate
