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Brock Pierce Served for Securities Fraud in Connection with His Blockchain Company Block.one During Electoral Campaign

Presidential hopeful Brock Pierce was served a court summons during his presidential campaign in front of his new headquarters in New York City today. US attorney James Koutoulas uploaded a video of when the class action caught Pierce by surprise.

During a presidential campaign run that marked the opening of his New York City headquarters, Block.one co-founder Pierce was served by James Koutoulas’ legal team with a class-action lawsuit against the blockchain company. Koutoulas, the CEO of Typhon Capital Management and the lead attorney in the legal case against Pierce and his colleagues, uploaded a video of the exact moment the Block.one co-founder was hit with the suit at the presidential rally. He tweeted:

“Our team served Brock Pierce for securities fraud at his rally in NYC. Pro tip – when you’re trying to avoid getting served for a multi B fraud case, maybe lay off outlandish presidential campaigns.”

Brock Pierce, a venture capitalist entrepreneur that had helped co-found a number of blockchain and crypto projects, such as Tether, Block.one, and Blockchain Capital was caught off-guard during his presidential rally. He was charged due to a securities fraud class action suit directed against his company, Block.one.

Block.one served a second time

Back in September 2019, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had slapped a $24 million fine at blockchain company Block.one for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO) hosting EOS digital tokens in 2019. The ICO was estimated to be worth $4 billion. The blockchain company had agreed to settle the charges and pay the civil penalty, following the SEC’s sanctions.

However, the US Securities and Exchange Commission hit Pierce along with his other co-founders Daniel Larimer, Brendan Blumer, and Ian Grigg a second time with a class action complaint in relation to violations of the Federal Securities Law this May. The official legal notice served during Pierce’s presidential rally was filed on behalf of all investors that had bought EOS tokens or received them from June 2017 to the time of writing. It read:

“This action is brought on behalf of all investors who purchased securities issued by Block.one called ‘EOS Tokens’ (the ‘EOS Securities’) during the period of June 26, 2017, to the present (the ‘Class Period’).”

Led by Crypto Assets Opportunity Fund LLC, Johnny Hong in May, and brought upon by Koutoulas’ legal team recently, the document stipulated:

“This case arises out of a fraudulent scheme, fueled by a global frenzy over cryptocurrencies and unchecked human greed, to raise billions of dollars through sales of a cryptocurrency called EOS – an unregistered security – to investors in violation of the United States federal securities laws.”

Brock Pierce –what his candidacy means for tech and crypto

This comes at a crucial moment for the Tether co-founder. Brock Pierce had announced his plans to join the presidential race on a last-minute notice on July 5. Known to be a blockchain pioneer, a venture capitalist entrepreneur, and a firm crypto and technology advocate, Pierce’s plans to join the presidential run may mean significant things for the industry. With a proven track record for building businesses from the ground up, Pierce had previously publicly disclosed:

“I’ve spent my life creating great things from nothing and I can help others do the same. Entrepreneurs are essential to the rebuilding of this nation that we love, and I’m running in this race because I know that together we can help build a pathway towards the rebirth of the America we love so much.”

Trouble in crypto paradise

On top of his active involvement in the tech industry, Pierce had also been known for creating Tether, the first stablecoin that is backed one-to-one with USD.

However, in July, the New York Supreme Court had found that Tether stablecoin empire, along with coin exchange Bitfinex were alleged to have colluded in concealing the loss of corporate and client funds estimated to be over $850 million worth. In the federal court’s ruling, Brock Pierce was not mentioned.

However, in light of the crypto venture capitalist being served during his presidential rally earlier today, Brock Pierce’s name will most likely go through public scrutiny and criticism, as the presidential election is looming close. The US elections are currently set for November 3, 2020.

Google Cloud Joins EOS Blockchain Network as a Block Producer Candidate

Google Cloud will join the EOS community and has begun the process of becoming a block producer candidate for Block.one’s EOS network.

According to an email shared with Blockchain.News on Oct 6, tech giant Google’s hyperscale cloud and infrastructure provider, Google Cloud, is set to join the EOS community and is taking steps to become a block producer for the public blockchain network built on the EOSIO blockchain protocol.

What is a Block Producer?

Block producers are a core component of the EOS network. According to the EOS white paper, the blocks in the EOS.IO software will be produced by 21 producers which are called “Block Producers”. EOS architecture uses Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS), which creates blocks through trusted accounts (also called “trustees”) that are selected by the community. The features of DPOS include short block production time, high efficiency and almost no chance of forking.

All the EOS token holders in the EOS mainnet vote for 21 trusted accounts to make decisions for them and act as Block Producer. The top 21 Block Producer Candidates with the most votes are selected as Block Producers.

Having a giant of technological innovation like Google Cloud apply to become a block producer on a public blockchain network like EOS underscores the importance of blockchain to the future of business, government and society.

Allen Day, Developer Advocate for Google Cloud confirmed the application for block producer candidacy. He said:

“As organizations begin to incorporate distributed ledger technology into their infrastructures, we are committed to ensuring that the information on public blockchains are securely stored, reliably available, and can be accessed in meaningful ways.”

As mentioned, as a block producer candidate, Google Cloud will need to be selected by token holders to secure a position within the block producer ranks on the EOS network.

Brendan Blumer, CEO of Block.one expressed his excitement in having the opportunity to assess Google’s candidacy. Blumer said:

“The Google Cloud team understands the thriving EOS community and the highly performant EOSIO technology on which it builds create the best entry point into the blockchain industry. We welcome Google Cloud to the EOS community and are excited for their contributions to the EOS network.”

In joining the EOS community Google Cloud will provide its highly provisioned, low-latency infrastructure to Block.one. Dan Larimer, CTO at Block.one explained:

“Through secure oracles, inter-chain transaction reporting, key management, and high-integrity full-node validation, Google Cloud’s confidential computing infrastructure will enhance the security, scalability, and decentralization of blockchain technology.”

Block.one Launches EOSIO for Business as PwC Makes $1.76T 2030 Blockchain GDP Prediction

Block.one today announced a new suite of enterprise service offerings designed to help organizations integrate blockchain-based solutions into their operations. The announcement comes following a recent PwC report that predicts blockchain has the potential to boost global gross domestic product (GDP) by $1.76 trillion.

According to an email shared with Blockchain.News, the four new offerings will leverage Block.one’s performance-focused EOSIO software and will include Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), consulting, technical support, and training and certification programs.

PwC Predicts Huge Growth For Blockchain

While blockchain is most known as the underlying infrastructure supporting cryptocurrencies, PwC experts reviewed other key advantages of the distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Five case scenarios in which blockchain could be used to drive the digital revolution forward included provenance – the tracking and tracing of products and services – payments and financial services, identity management, and the application of blockchain in contracts and dispute resolution as well as customer engagement.

Speaking about the potential ways blockchain technology could be used, Steve Davies, a Partner and Blockchain Leader at PwC UK, said:

“Blockchain technology has long been associated with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, but there is so much more that it has to offer, particularly in how public and private organisations secure, share and use data.”

The analysis evaluated blockchain technology’s potential across different industries, from healthcare, government and public services to finance, logistics, retail, and more.

According to PwC analysts, Asia stands to reap the most economic benefits from blockchain technology over other continents.

In terms of countries, China and the US were designated as the ones that could potentially gain the highest net benefits from blockchain, estimated at $440 billion and $407 billion respectively, according to data from PwC. The net benefits of five countries, notably Germany, Japan, the UK, France, and India were also calculated to surpass $50 billion.

Overall, across all sectors, the public administration, healthcare, and education industry appears to be the biggest beneficiaries, with PwC expecting them to gain approximately $574 billion by 2030 through using blockchain for identity and credentials.

Blockchain Enterprise Entrance

As enterprise digital transformation continues to drive corporate growth, organizations are exploring blockchain-based solutions for more reliable, secure and transparent data infrastructure.

The accelerated interest and adoption of the technology has left a growing gap in both technical expertise and resources needed to effectively incorporate blockchain solutions. Block.one’s EOSIO for Business is focused on closing this gap with simple yet powerful solutions.

Block.one Chief Operating Officer Ted Cahall:

“Despite knowing the inherent benefits that blockchain will deliver to their business operations, many in-house product engineering teams are wary of the complexity involved in setting up and administering their own blockchain […] Our EOSIO for Business customers will be able to work directly with EOSIO experts to ensure that their implementations seamlessly integrate with existing technology, and they will also have exclusive access to the newest EOSIO features and upgrades – all of which will enable in-house teams to focus on other business priorities while still benefiting from the reliability and security of their new blockchain systems.”

The four major components of EOSIO for Business include:

EOSIO Premier Technical Support: Enables companies to easily identify support tiers that suit their needs in outsourcing troubleshooting and technical assistance in order to launch and maintain operations for an EOSIO implementation.
EOSIO BaaS: An automated blockchain platform, fully managed by Block.one, allows companies to leverage blockchain technology without having to dedicate internal resources to ongoing maintenance.
EOSIO Consulting: Offers direct access to EOSIO engineers to empower developers to better identify, architecture, and implement solutions through first-hand exposure on how to design and implement EOSIO smart contracts.
EOSIO Training and Certification: Comprehensive courses covering the foundations of EOSIO including smart contract programming, auditing and the best security practices for integrations.

Clients are already benefiting from Block.one’s enterprise support. Mythical Games, the game technology studio on the Forbes “Disruptive Technology Companies to watch” list, uses EOSIO for Business services to create digital ecosystems around player-owned economies.

Rudy Koch, Co-founder and SVP of Business Development at Mythical Games said:

“At Mythical, we are redefining game economies and creating new revenue opportunities by putting more power and ownership in the hands of players and content creators […] EOSIO is an integral part of our efforts. Leveraging Block.one’s EOSIO BaaS service enables us to continue delivering world-class game technology products to our players and partners.”

EOS Price Surges by 110% Within Three Days

EOS, a platform that is designed to allow developers to build decentralized apps with its native token “EOS”, has seen its token rise for three consecutive days by 110%. Yesterday, EOS broke the psychological barrier of $10 yesterday.

This rise may be related to the new project EOS’ parent company Block.one is currently exploring. According to sources familiar with the talks, Block.one may have purchased the domain name Bullish.com for $1.08 million.

According to previous media reports, Bullish is expected to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) through a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in the middle of 2021.

At the same time, the power-up model of EOS also provides a more favourable way for EOS holders to make money.

This protocol allows traders to pay a fee to power up their account for 24 hours in order to conduct transactions on the network without having to pay transaction fees for each transaction.

According to Coinmarketcap, EOS, the nineteenth-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of $ $20,285,290,163 has risen by 92.56%% in the past 7 days.

At the time of writing, EOS is trading at $12.22.

EOS Price Analysis

Source: EOS/USDT Daily via TradingView

Judging from the daily candlestick chart, in tandem with EOS’ explosive growth, its transaction volume has also been surging. The daily trading volume for EOS on the Binance crypto exchange is as high as $244.233 million, which is the highest EOS trades has climbed since the token’s listing on Binance. This also means that the bulls are buying in bulk.

But today, the enthusiasm of the bulls seems to have weakened. Although EOS touched $13.25, it has still yet to retest its all-time high of $15.68, which was attained on June 2, 2018. Today’s long upper shadow line of the candlestick indicates that the bears are triggering a number of sales.

Due to the declining linkage of the mainstream cryptocurrency Bitcoin, EOS bulls seem to be hesitant to enter at such a high price.

Bitcoin bulls are actively defending the $56,000 support position.

The transaction price of EOS/USDT is much higher than the Exponential Moving Average ribbon. Both the upward sloping moving average and the bullish MACD index indicate that the bulls are currently dominating the market.

Stochastic RSI is reaching the overbought zone, exceeding the 80 mark. A reading above 80 suggests that the RSI may be reaching extreme highs and this could signal a pullback from EOS altcoin.

In the short term, EOS/USDT is likely to experience a horizontal movement around $11.00 before it tests its record-high of $15.68.

Block.one Raises $10 Billion in Bullish Global Launch, Triggering a 50% Increase for EOS Token

Block.one, EOSIO’s open-source parent company, announced the establishment of a new subsidiary, Bullish Global.

The company launched Bullish, a cryptocurrency trading platform based on the EOS blockchain.

The platform will combine centralized and decentralized crypto exchange infrastructure to provide traders with lending, and portfolio management tools to promote deeper digital asset liquidity through a new Automated Market-Making (AMM) mechanism.

The CEO of Block.one Brendan Blumer commented on cryptocurrency exchanges that will be available to the masses later this year. He said:

“The Bullish exchange will leverage blockchain technology and a new market architecture to revolutionize the high-performance trading landscape by transparently automating expensive third-party functions and turning them into yield-generating portfolio management tools to offer institutions and individuals better and safer access to the latest cryptocurrency investment strategies.”

According to the official announcement, EOSIO developers revealed that Bullish Global has raised more than $10 billion in funds, including Block.one’s initial investment funds of $100 million, 164,000 BTC, and 20 million EOS and a total value worth 300 million strategic investment led by the co-founder of Palantir Peter Thiel, the co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset-Alan Howard, and other celebrities.

Stimulated by the good news, EOS rose by 55.50% in 24 hours. In the past 7 days, it has recorded a total increase of 93.48%.

EOS Price Analysis

Source: EOS/USDT Daily via Tradingview

At the time of writing, EOS is trading at $13.95.The current price of EOS is still a long way from its all-time high of $23.08, which was set in 2018 on Huobi global exchange.

There has been some selling pressure encountered by the token in mid-to-late January and early June 2018, near the $14 to $15.50 level. However, based on the trading volume, the previous volume is relatively small. Although EOS may experience some selling pressure ahead, both the upward sloping moving average and the MACD index indicate that the bulls are currently dominating the market.

Stochastic RSI is reaching the overbought zone, accompanied by a bullish crossover over the 80 mark. This suggests that the RSI may continue to reach extreme highs and this could be a bullish signal for the EOS altcoin.

If the bulls can push the decisive closing price above $15.50, then the bullish momentum may prompt EOS to retest its all-time high of $23.08.

EOS Network Foundation Urges Community to Reject $22 Million Block.one Settlement

In a current class action lawsuit in the United States, the EOS Network Foundation (ENF) has openly pushed the EOS community to reject the proposed settlement with Block.one, the business that created the EOS blockchain. On August 8, 2023, the information was published on the ENF’s official Twitter account.

The EOS Network Foundation is a group with the mission of using decentralization to plan a coordinated future for the EOS Network as an agent of good in the world.

Details of the Settlement

The proposed settlement pertains to the ongoing class action against Block.one, and details can be found at the settlement website. The settlement amount is $22 million, a figure that the ENF has criticized as being inadequate.

According to the ENF’s statement, “The proposed settlement amount of $22 million represents a tiny fraction of the $4 billion that Block.one raised from the community in its ICO sale and the $1 billion that Block.one promised to invest in the EOS Network and community, but failed to do.”

ENF’s Stance

The ENF has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the terms of the settlement, stating that it does not adequately compensate community members for losses suffered due to Block.one’s “misrepresentations and bad acts.” Furthermore, the ENF emphasizes that the settlement would bar class members’ rights to seek fair and just resolution to their claims in the future.

The ENF’s statement further reads: “$22 million is too small a price for Block.one to pay to avoid having to be held to account for their bad acts in the future.”

Call to Action

The ENF is urging community members to opt out of the settlement, sending a message to Block.one and the court that the settlement is inadequate. The deadline to opt out is August 29, 2023. Failure to opt out by this date may result in automatic inclusion in the class, impairing future rights to bring a claim against Block.one.

EOS community members who wish to opt out of the settlement can do so by completing the web-form located at this link.

What Happend Before The Call

The ENF’s call to reject the settlement comes in the context of ongoing legal disputes with Block.one.

Block.one is being sued by the ENF for “failing to follow through on its $1B commitment,” according to an announcement made by ENF founder and CEO Yves La Rose on July 25.

On January 31, 2023, U.S. court rejected Block.one’s $27.5 million settlement offer to main plaintiff Crypto Assets Opportunity. The $22 million settlement that is now being sought relates to a different class-action case that has been ongoing for some time.

La Rose has been outspoken about the difficulties the EOS community is experiencing as a result of Block.one allegedly not honoring its investment pledges. In May 2023, he initially advocated for a class-action lawsuit against Block.one, claiming that the firm had broken its pledge to give EOSIO developers $1 billion from the EOS initial coin offering (ICO) which Block.one raised $4.1 billion in 2018.