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Mystery Startup Tells the SEC It's Raising a $180 Million ICO

A little-known company in Estonia is looking to raise as much as $180 million in a SAFT sale, public records show.

The DOJ tied a Latvian national for alleged participation in a cybercrime group.
The DOJ tied a Latvian national for alleged participation in a cybercrime group.

A little-known company in Estonia is looking to raise as much as $180 million in a SAFT sale, public records show.

A Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities published on June 4 through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's EDGAR document system shows that a firm called NewTech Myning OU is looking to raise the funds by selling what are effective promises the distribution of tokens at a future time. To date, a number of blockchain startups and projects have raised money using the SAFT model.

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Per the form, the offering is for the "sale and issuance of rights to receive GoWeb tokens in the future via a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens."

But as it stands, there's scant information about the company involved or its planned token. Business registry information published online indicates that NewTech Myning was first established in March.

Efforts to contact the company prior to publication were unsuccessful.

In the event that NewTech Myning is able to raise the entire $180 million, it would represent one of the larger token sales to date. That said, it wouldn't constitute the largest – that record is currently held by Telegram, with it's reported $1.8 billion haul – to hit the market thus far.

It wouldn't be the most notable news of late either out of Estonia, where the government has been linked to a national cryptocurrency project. However, a recent report from Bloomberg indicates that pushback from EU regulators has led to a significant scaling-back of that initiative.

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Stan Higgins

A member of CoinDesk's full-time Editorial Staff since 2014, Stan has long been at the forefront of covering emerging developments in blockchain technology. Stan has previously contributed to financial websites, and is an avid reader of poetry. Stan currently owns a small amount (<$500) worth of BTC, ENG and XTZ (See: Editorial Policy).

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