Byte Penny Stock Under Investigation for ICO

Byte Power Group (BPG), an IT firm is being investigated by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) over a penny stock that was listed by the firm. The penny stock in question was seeking to raise $15 million through an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as a means to launch a cryptocurrency exchange.

BPG issued a statement where it confirmed that it had answered 17 questions which were raised by the ASX with regard to the planned token sale. The company is planning to issue 1 billio
Byte Power X loyalty (BPX) tokens and they have planned to sell 25 percent of this offering to private investors. The token is priced at $0.06 per unit for private investors.

The firm plans to raise up to $15 million as a means to launch their own cryptocurrency exchange for trading BPX tokens. The remainder of the tokens will be allocated to the pre-registered users, company special releasing, future marketing drive and pre-opening.

Notably, if successful, BPG will become the first publicly traded company to launch a cryptocurrency exchange through ICO in Australia. ASX is making sure that the ICO listing is in accordance to the official listing rules.

BPG has spoken out that its token sale is already underway. Private investors in Singapore and Australia are offered the token purchase. The firm plans to further expand operations by conducting sales in Hong Kong. To further clarify the situation, BPG said that they had taken legal advice and that the tokens are not to be considered as securities. This means that the tokens cannot be regulated by Corporations Act of Australian law as a financial product. The company has not offered further information about the remaining 75 percent tokens.

Notably, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) had published regulatory guidance for ICOs back in September last year.

This news was originally published on Coindesk.