Cventcoin, which was allegedly created by Cvent Inc., was termed as the “bitcoin killer” as it would be the most secure cryptocurrency in the world, with encrypted text messaging. However, it was soon discovered to be a fraudulent investment scheme. An unknown individual had taken up Cvent’s information to create a fake ICO where investors could purchase the coins in hopes of gaining higher returns.
The website used techspeak and terms explaining about the ‘coin’. It also had random diagrams illustrating how the technology was supposed to work. Actual Information about Cvent was altered in order to make website seem like a real blockchain-oriented company. For instance, its roadmap begins with its history of event management; it then proceeds to forge details of how it entered into blockchain and cryptocurrency in 2017.
Filed a lawsuit
On 9 April, Cvent filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia requesting for an injunction against the website in order to stop its operations and prevent the domain from being transferred. It is also seeking triple damages from the responsible party and asking them to hand in any gains made during the website’s operational period. However, the defendant has not yet responded to any of the court filings. Since then, a lot of information regarding the Cvent has been taken down.
In 2017, ICOs raised over $6.8 billion, up from the $151 million raised between 2014 and 2016. According to Nassim Ghorayeb, who is the head of research in ConcourseQ, these types of ICO frauds are very common. He says that however, there are plenty of legitimate projects and that blockchain technology has a potential to do good.
ICO and token increase
According to CoinMarketCap.com, There has also been an increase in the number of tokens and coins in the previous years with a total current market cap of nearly $400 billion, up from $17 billion on Jan. 1, 2017, however bitcoin remains as the market leader with a total market capitalization of $151 billion.