SA startup ProsperiProp delays ICO following China’s ban on token offerings

South African startup ProsperiProp has delayed by one week its PROPX initial coin offerings (ICO) — which it planned to run on Friday, 8 September — following China’s decision to ban ICOs in China and the US’s moves last month to begin regulating ICOs.

The ICO, which will be aimed largely at international investors looking to invest in international property and will use a cryptocurrency created by the company called “PROPX”, will now be run next week Friday (15 September).

‘Based on this current market volatility, we have decided to allow the storm to pass before launching our ICO’

It follows an announcement last month by ProsperiProp founder and CEO Llew Morkel that the ICO would be run on 8 September.

Read more: SA’s ProsperiProp plans to run two ICOs to get around crowdfunding challenge

In an emailed announcement today, Morkel said his startup “stands unaffected” as the company operates outside of those legal jurisdictions. However he has decided to delay the ICO by one month.

“Based on this current market volatility, we have decided to allow the storm to pass before launching our ICO. The official (pre-ICO) PROPX crowd fund will now start one week later, ie Friday, 15 September 2017, but it will finish on the same date. Token distribution will still take place on the first day after the ICO,” he said, adding that the full ICO will run until 31 October.

He said the startup is in the process of aligning itself with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) requirements to “future-proof” the business. “This will also allow us to market freely in the United States,” he added.

On Monday Bitcoin Foundation executive director Llew Claasen said though China’s announcement of the ban on ICOs might be “unexpected”,  it is only a temporary setback for startups looking to raise capital through ICOs he adds.

Though Claasen did not want to comment on ProsperiProp, but did say that it appears that the startup’s ICO is effectively an initial public offering (IPO) rather than an ICO to distribute utility tokens. He believes utility tokens should be legal, while those that seek to use tokens effectively as profit-making shares should be regulated by authorities.

Read more: SA’s ProsperiProp plans to run two ICOs to get around crowdfunding challenge