Calata calls SEC order a 'harassment'

Zirah Mae Sardoma, Rexiel Cal, Jomari Tasani | February 6, 2018

Describing their initial coin offering (ICO) at the cryptocurrency market as “illegal", controversial businessman Joseph Calata finally spoke over the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) cease-and-desist order on four of his companies.

Calata, who decided to enter the cryptocurrency market after his agricultural company Calata Corp. was delisted from the local bourse for multiple violations, perceived SEC’s move as “harassment,” adding that “there is no existing law or regulation specifically pertaining to an ICO.” an excerpt to an open letter sent to the media.

Prohibited from engaging in selling or offering securities in the form of Krop tokens and Krop coins are the Calata-led Companies—Krops, Black Cell Technology Inc., Black Sands Capital Inc., and Black Cell Technology Ltd.— until they were registered and approved by the SEC.

“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,” Calata pointed out.

“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 added.

Calata mentioned that the SEC has no way to stop it from dealing with other nationalities because it is a global offering and not a limited to Philippines offering when the CDO prohibited the firm from selling Krop coins to the Filipinos.

“I envision it to be the world’s first global virtual marketplace for agriculture and it will be,” he said.

Calata compared his new technology-based company to Alibaba, multinational business involved in commerce, Al and technology.