Ecoin Finance: a suspicious undertaking leveraging a defunct UK firm

This text is a deep dive investigation into Ecoin Finance (ECOIN): a suspicious undertaking primarily based on the good contract of what many contemplate to be a fraudulent platform, Safemoon (SAFEMOON), that retains selling its token with the identify of a now-defunct firm that was registered in the UK.

Ecoin Finance is a undertaking that, in keeping with its web site, was based in Could 2021 and “is a decentralized & deflationary BEP20 token powered by ‘BNB Chain’ ” community. The homepage additional explains that it “can be a web-based fee platform changing standard fiat foreign money by our built-in debit card.”

The Ecoin Finance web site’s homepage cites the misspelled identify of its company, “Ecoin Finance LTD” in its footer and continues carrying the incorporation paperwork on the web site for E-Coin Finance LTD, an organization primarily based out of London based again on June 2, 2021.

What Ecoin Finance apparently fails to reveal is that this firm was dissolved by UK authorities again in December final yr after a warning was issued in August 2022.

In keeping with official data, Ecoin doesn’t exist

Whereas the rationale for the dissolution of the corporate is just not explicitly talked about within the paperwork, the truth that no publicly-listed paperwork have been added by E-Coin Finance LTD administration to its submitting historical past because the incorporation means that the corporate has by no means been actually lively.

The info additionally means that the agency was dissolved over merely failing to ever file any of the obligatory paperwork.

One attention-grabbing assertion from the doc is the next:

“Upon the Firm’s dissolution, all property and rights vested in, or held in belief for, the Firm are deemed to be bona vacantia, and can belong to the Crown.”

First Gazette Discover, E-Coin Finance doc submitting historical past

Cal Evans — the managing affiliate at crypto authorized and compliance agency Gresham Worldwide — confirmed that because the web site nonetheless claims “their enterprise as being carried out from the UK” from the dissolved firm, it’s “positively in breach of the Corporations act.”

“The place an organization is dissolved, it’s now not allowed to do enterprise. This implies all of their contracts and companies are actually defunct, because the precise firm now not exists.”

Cal Evans, Gresham Worldwide managing affiliate

Evans additionally identified that the UK Monetary Conduct Authority (FCA) has strict guidelines for crypto corporations below its jurisdiction. Consequently, if Ecoin Finance is claiming to be primarily based out of the UK and promoting tokens, “it’s almost definitely they must be registered with the FCA.”

“In the event you promote a token by an organization that now not exists, then that may be seen as fraud. The place an organization now not exists, the administrators/shareholders grow to be personally liable (equivalent to within the occasion of a strike off),”

Evans concluded.

The incorporation doc lists UK resident Mohammad Anowar Hussain because the agency’s sole director — an individual not talked about anyplace on the present model of the Ecoin Finance web site. Ronaldo Guedes — the individual listed as the present CEO on the web site — is barely listed as a 50% stakeholder, with the remainder of the corporate being owned by Hussain.

Hussain’s LinkedIn profile claims that he’s a former Google senior enterprise analyst — an announcement that the tech large didn’t verify or deny when contacted — with no different work expertise earlier than or after launching E-Coin Finance.

He was listed on the unique web site as a founding companion alongside Ronaldo Guedes, however subsequently, all mentions of him have been merely eliminated; the present model of the web site claims that Guedes has all the time been the corporate’s sole founder.

‘Extraordinarily busy’

Hollywood actress well-known for starring in Trendy Household, Dr. Dolittle 3, and different motion pictures, Darcy Donavan serves because the agency’s chief advertising officer.

When contacted with questions in regards to the questionable nature of E-Coin Finance Darcy’s consultant Dylan Nelson mentioned:

“Throughout Ms. Donavan’s time with Ecoin Finance, the one difficulty that she had seen was final yr, when the corporate parted methods with one of many unique founders. Past that, Ms. Donavan has not seen anything.”

When requested for particulars, Nelson recommended that she is aware of little on the topic and that inquiries ought to be directed to Guedes as a substitute.

Guedes didn’t reply to crypto.information’ requests for feedback, whereas the agency’s strategic planning marketing consultant Flavio Moura mentioned that “Guedes won’t be able to concentrate to you, he’s extraordinarily busy.”

Moura additionally claimed that E-Coin Finance’s operations are utterly compliant with rules and that the longer term fee card, which the corporate has been purportedly engaged on regardless of its firm being forcibly dissolved, is being developed in partnership with an organization that can’t be revealed attributable to a non-disclosure settlement.

In reality, he claimed that the pockets and devoted monetary platform are “89% full.”

Darcy Donovan’s consultant additionally claims “the corporate has been creating this know-how [the debit card] in-house, dealing with all coding and design. This all takes money and time.  As a startup firm in an already new sector, this will take an prolonged period of time,” Nelson mentioned.

The info signifies that tweets mentioning the ECOIN ticker on the time of the evaluate have been receiving extra likes and retweets than impressions. Curiously, ECOIN appears to have the next engagement on social media than main cash equivalent to ethereum (ETH). Moreover, it stands out when it comes to each the typical age of Twitter accounts mentioning it and the overwhelmingly optimistic sentiment expressed.

When confronted with Twitter knowledge suggesting probably widespread bot exercise amongst tweets that point out the ECOIN ticker on Twitter, Moura known as it “blasphemy.”

In a subsequent message, the corporate’s strategic advisor Moura warned crypto.information:

“As a well-known phrase says, ‘Who shouldn’t, doesn’t worry.’ However beware of claiming inconsistent issues in regards to the ECOIN group, as it’s possible you’ll know, even journalists having freedom of the press, a lawsuit for blasphemy may be filed.”

This sentence means that Moura believed blasphemy to truly imply libel in a present of lack of understanding of the U.Okay. authorized language that additionally manifests itself within the agency’s paperwork. Evans famous that he doesn’t imagine “the web site phrases have been written by an English/British lawyer.”

The lawyer defined,

“They’re written in ‘English,’ not American type and language. This says to me it was a commonwealth lawyer. I might recommend Egypt or India by the language. […] We’d by no means say an organization is British, as a result of there isn’t a such factor. There may be England and Wales or Scotland, amongst others. That claims whoever wrote these phrases doesn’t perceive English legislation however does use English grammar and is legally educated.”

crypto.information adopted Evans’ recommendation and took steps to contact the UK Corporations Home, the FCA, and the Nationwide Crime Company. Evan believes these organizations “would love to have a look into this firm.”

Evans additionally famous the discrepancies within the firm’s official deal with, explaining that “the corporate director has listed an precise deal with for his or her house/service deal with (which appears unusual). The deal with can be spelled unsuitable. Each the shareholders listing this as their service deal with.”

Not FTX, however sufficiently big

Poopcoin knowledge means that Ecoin Finance’s present market cap is simply over $431,616 at its present value of $0.00123232 per token.

CoinMarketCap knowledge exhibits that the coin had seen its all-time excessive again in early April 2022 — on the time, the worth was $0.007737, almost six occasions larger, which means that until the availability has seen drastic adjustments, the market cap at its highest stood at about $2.7 million.