State of Texas Orders ‘Decentralized Bank’ ICO Project to Cease Operations

This week the Texas Department of Banking Commissioner, Charles G. Cooper, issued a cease and desist order to an alleged ‘decentralized cryptocurrency-bank’ called Arise Bank. The commissioner explains the startup unlawfully claims to be a banking institution and its operations must stop engaging with residents from the state of Texas.
Back in December, some headlines started to spread on the web about a partnership between Arise Bank and a 100-year-old FDIC insured bank in the U.S. Arise Bank is an initial coin offering (ICO) that claims to have many strategic alliances. The news initially spread its wings when it was published on the popular online publication the Huffington Post, but the story has since been scrubbed. A copied version of the story still appears on the financial website Zerohedge.

Arise Bank claimed to be a “decentralized cryptocurrency bank” that offers a 100-page white paper, financial management services, debit cards, and an ICO. Further, Arise bank has associations with Bitshares community and the well-known developer Stan Larimer had also written about the project on Steemit. Unfortunately for Arise Bank, there’s a lot of people who question the legitimacy of its services and state that lots of its so-called operations are non-existent.

In accordance with Texas Finance Code §§ 31.005 and 35.207, Respondents are ordered to cease and desist from implying that they engage in the business of banking in Texas, whether through the website www.arisebank.com or any other online site or profile.

A Scam or a Victim of Libel and Slander?
Scouring the internet searching for information about Arise Bank shows a lot of forum and blog posts claiming Arise Bank is a “scam.” However, the startup’s founder Jared Rise and representatives from Arise Bank believe they are “victims of libel and slander.” One particular Medium blog post that aims to prove the project is fishy is questioned for starting the rumors regarding Arise Bank, and the company addresses each point written in the article.
The editorial basically states that Arise Bank’s operations are shady and much of what it claims doesn’t really exist.

“A post has been circulating around the web that was posted by someone who was funded to post it with completely false information,” Jared Rice, the co-founder of Arise Bank explains. Rice believes the post is misleading and every issue raised contains data that can be “easily proven false