Australian Celebrities See Fallout of ICO Boom: Cricket Captain Michael Clarke
A recent article by Colin Kruger in the Sydney Morning Herald profiles the story of Michael Clarke, a renowned cricket captain, and a failed ICO called Global Tech Exchange (https://gttrade.io).
Global Tech was to be a cryptocurrency trading platform which had some elements of artificial intelligence and machine learning embedded in it. They were trying to raise $50 million Australian dollars to fund a customer support team along with comprehensive education and other resources.
They made a similar mistake to some American ICOs when they enlisted the star power of Michael Clarke, whose tweet raised the ire of some traditional financial analysts and eventually led to the local regulatory authority ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) taking a deep look at the ICO and its lack of regulatory compliance as regards things like investor protections.
Within a few months of ASIC taking notice, Global Tech called it quits and returned all funds so far collected.
Contrast With Centra Tech
This is a commendable action compared to the actions of Centra Tech, who ended up being charged with fraud and faced suit along with their celebrity endorsers Floyd Mayweather and DJ Khaled. Australian investors in Global Tech should be glad they don’t have to go through a long court process to reach a settlement with Global Tech. At the same time, there’s no evidence that the intention of Global Tech were anything less than aboveboard.
The lawsuit against Mayweather and Khaled holds them partly to blame for consumer-level investors getting involved with Centra Tech. It seems to insinuate that celebrities have a duty to only recommend good products to their followers or face consequences. After all, celebrity endorsements are an age-old marketing method, but when it comes to securities, regulated or otherwise, there is always a price to pay when things go badly.
Other Australian ICOs Thriving In Spite of Regulation
Kruger’s article doesn’t stop at profiling Clarke and Global Tech. It also reaches out to Power Ledger , a groundbreaking ICO-funded company which aims to create a truly free peer-to-peer electricity market. The POWR token currently sits at around 16 cents, down from a post-ICO high of almost $2.
Power Ledger co-founder Jemma Green told Kruger, “The work we’re doing is really mission focussed. I think that is why people have responded to us.” To date, Power Ledger has launched in several locations, and is probably one of the few out of the thousands of ICOs which will succeed long-term and stick to its stated purpose.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
