Cambridge Analytica, the data services firm at the epicenter of the recent public relations nightmare faced by Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), was looking to make a push into the world of digital currencies via an initial coin offering (ICO).
The company’s ICO effort was overseen by former CEO Alexander Nix, but Nix departed Cambridge Analytica last month amid the Facebook data controversy. Though shares of Facebook, the largest U.S. social media company, bounced back modestly this week, the stock is still down nearly 15 percent from its 52-week high, a decline caused in large part by the data-sharing controversy surrounding Cambridge Analytica.
“Documents and emails obtained by The New York Times show that Cambridge Analytica’s efforts to help promote another group’s digital token, the Dragon Coin, associated the firm with a famous gangster in Macau who has gone by the nickname Broken Tooth,” reports The New York Times.
Last year, there were hundreds of ICOs with the 10 largest raising well over $1 billion on a combined basis. Year-to-date, there have been 183 ICOs, which have raised over $6 billion combined, according to Coinschedule.com. March saw the bulk of that activity with $2.94 billion raised.
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Not only was Cambridge Analytica looking to launch its own ICO, the company has actively looked for work with blockchain companies and other firms looking to launch their own digital tokens.
Jill Carlson, a blockchain consultant, “said the Cambridge Analytica employees had bragged about their success in helping get President Trump elected and their ability to carefully target advertising campaigns using data from social networks like Facebook,” according to the New York Times.
The employee in charge of the ICO business at Cambridge Analytica departed the firm in February. Year-to-date, Janauary has been the busiest month for ICO’s with 56. Month-to-date, April has seen 22 initial offerings for digital tokens.
CoinSchedule applies trust grades of “A” to “E” on ICOs with A being the highest and “E” being the worst. Most of the ICOs on the site have grades of C or lower.
