The man who earned himself the nickname the Wolf of Wall Street and inspired the Hollywood movie of the same name has weighed in on the initial coin offering craze. And it's not a favourable opinion.
Jordan Belfort, who served 22 months prison time for securities fraud and money laundering and was played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the big screen adaption, has said he believes ICOs are a scam.
Read more: The UK's financial regulator has issued a warning on Initial Coin Offerings
Speaking to the Financial Times, he called them "the biggest scam ever" and a "f*****g disaster" estimating that five to 10 per cent of the new scheme through which companies get funding by issuing a new cryptocurrency were likely to be scams.
“Promoters are perpetuating a massive scam of the highest order on everyone,” he added.
Read more: ICOh-no: China's the first country to ban initial coin offerings
"It is the biggest scam ever, such a huge gigantic scam that’s going to blow up in so many people’s faces. It’s far worse than anything I was ever doing,” he told the newspaper.
Regulators from around the globe have started tentatively weighing in on the trend for issuing the cryptocurrencies to gain funding which have already raised $3bn collectively. The UK's financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning in September about the risks telling investors they should "be prepared to lose their entire stake".
