Boxer Evander Holyfield Somehow Got Mixed Up In What May Be A $600 Million Cryptocurrency Scam

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has just shut down a cryptocoin offering from a project called AriseBank. Though the organiser claimed they raised $600 million for the initial coin offering (ICO), the SEC believes it was all a scam. A scam, endorsed by boxer Evander Holyfield earlier this month. You know, the guy that famously lost a piece of his ear to Mike Tyson in a bout

The SEC said AriseBank’s ICO was technically a securities offering, but wasn’t registered with them as should have been in that case. In addition, the agency says AriseBank has made at least two other fraudulent claims about its cryptocurrency, a warning sign of a possible scam.

It’s a sign of how strictly the US government is now looking at cryptocurrency, as are other nations around the world. Just last month, the SEC shut down a cryptocurrency called PlexCoin that had all the markings of a scam. And it seems AriseBank showed similar red flags. One of the founders, Jared Rice Jr, has previously been charged with felony theft and tampering with government records, and was convicted. 

As for how former heavyweight champion Holyfield got mixed up in all of this, it seems he may have unwittingly backed scam while trying to help people. After his endorsement, it was announced that Holyfield was teaming up with AriseBank in “a long-lasting strategic partnership”, just so he could raise money for disaster victims in the US.

Called the Holyfield BitShares Endowment for Global Disaster Preparedness, it was a blockchain-based relief fund that was looking to raise about a million dollars in donations and grow to a billion dollars in value. That way, in times of disaster like Hurricane Maria in Puerto  Rico, the fund would be able to pay out to victims over the course of several years.

Hopefully Holyfield does a little more research on his choice of partnership next time.