Blockport, an Amsterdam-based currency exchange, has filed for bankruptcy after its Security Token Offering (STO) failed to meet expectations.
According to a blog post published in April 2019, the co-founder and chief product officer Sebastiaan Lichter said the company failed to reach its soft cap of €1 million ($1.13 million) for its STO. Recently found bankruptcy records indicate the company was declared bankrupt on May 21, 2019.
Blockport’s STO was launched on April 16 and lasted until May 15. Investors were given the opportunity to purchase BPS (Blockport Securities) in exchange for a minimum of €500 investment.
This exchange differed from an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) as the STO gave investors more than just a token — it offered a share in the company profits and access to annual meetings with Blockport’s board and management team.
Blockport’s native token, BPT, has dropped in value by over 88 percent within 24 hours after the bankruptcy announcement. All investors that participated will be refunded their investment amount in Euros.
Blockport claims to be drastically scaling down operations and development to focus on expanding the platform in “stealth mode,” with unique technological features that they hope will strengthen their business enough for a restart.
“We are already in touch with several parties that have shown interest in supporting a restart of Blockport in the future,” Lichter wrote. “However, the form or business structure is still unknown and subject to ongoing negotiations.”
The platform announced they would be going offline at the end of May. As of today, the platform is still live. In the coming weeks, Blockport will announce how current users can withdraw their funds. Email support will be available after the platform has gone offline.
Further updates regarding the future of Blockport will be issued in Q3 of 2019.