A crypto startup backed by the American rapper Jayceon Terrell Taylor, better known as “The Game,” had its registration revoked by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for violating securities laws after failing to file periodic reports.
ParagonCoin Limited, a crypto firm focusing on the marijuana industry, had its license revoked by the SEC after confirming its allegations against the company and finding that the firm is in default. The SEC started the proceedings against the firm in February 2022 and pointed out that its last filing was from March 2019, which states that it lost over $10 million in 2018.
According to the SEC, the crypto company ignored a delinquency letter sent by an SEC division about the periodic reports. In addition, the SEC also pointed out that the crypto startup did not respond to its order initiating proceedings in February 2022 — and did not answer five months later to provide reasons why it should not be found in default.
In 2021, Taylor and the crypto startup’s executives were found to be jointly liable for more than $12 million in a class-action lawsuit. The suit alleged that the startup violated securities law when it held its $70 million initial coin offering in 2017.
Related: Judge refuses to consolidate class-action lawsuits against FTX
Meanwhile, while The Game didn’t succeed in crypto, another rapper has started to become the face of Web3. The legendary rapper has announced many partnerships within the Web3 space and has recently been revealed as the co-founder of a Web3-powered live-streaming platform called Shiller.
On June 24, 2022, Snoop Dogg and Eminem also featured their Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens in a music video for their song called “From The D 2 The LBC.” The music video occasionally showed both rappers as their animated Bored-Ape-style characters.