Controversial businessman Joseph Calata finally broke his silence over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) cease-and-desist order on four of his companies, describing their initial coin offering (ICO) at the cryptocurrency market as “illegal.”
The Calata-led companies—Krops, Black Cell Technology Inc., Black Sands Capital Inc., and Black Cell Technology Ltd.—were prohibited from engaging in selling or offering securities in the form of Krop tokens and Krop coins until they were registered and approved by the SEC.
In an open letter sent to members of the media, Calata, who decided to enter the cryptocurrency market after his agricultural company Calata Corp. was delisted from the local bourse for multiple violations, described SEC’s move as “harassment,” adding that “there is no existing law or regulation specifically pertaining to an ICO.”
“It is a known fact that in the Philippines, there is no existing law or regulation specifically pertaining to an ICO…Regulation is not the same as outright prohibition. The SEC should know better,” he said.
“It is lamentable that in the Philippines, the SEC is suppressing the advancement of technology instead of supporting it. It is no wonder that start-ups in the Philippines do not get the chance to grow and expand,” he went on.
While the CDO prohibited the firm from selling Krop coins to Filipino nationals, Calata said the SEC could not stop it from dealing with other nationalities “simply because this is a global offering and not a public offering limited to the Philippines.”
“If at all, the jurisdiction may only be limited to transactions to be consequently made in the Philippines and only subject to existing laws, rules and regulations on ICOs which we doubt to already have been established at present,” he said.
Calata likened his technology-based start-up company to Alibaba, a Chinese multinational conglomerate involved in e-commerce, AI and technology.
“I envision it to be the world’s first global virtual marketplace for agriculture and it will be,” he said.