Prime Shipping Foundation was supposed to launch the largest initial coin offering (ICO) in shipping last year.
With an ambitious goal of developing a freight platform based on blockchain and smart contracts, chief executive Ivan Vikulov did rounds of media interviews, selling his audacious plan to raise up to $150m from shipping and crypto market participants.
Had the project — backed by Gibraltar-based Quorum Capital and Russian shipbroker Interchart — succeeded, it would have been a triumph for the fledgling means of financing that combines crowdfunding and initial public offerings.
