Shopin
A blockchain 'universal shopper profile' startup whose 2017–2018 ICO raised ~$42.5M. The SEC and New York AG said it was fraudulent — fake retailer partnerships, no working product. Founder Eran Eyal pleaded guilty to felony securities fraud (NY) and settled with the SEC.
Also known as: Shopin, Shopin Token, UnitedData
Summary
Shopin (operated through UnitedData, Inc.), founded by Eran Eyal, claimed it would build blockchain-based "universal shopper profiles" tracking purchase histories across retailers. Its 2017–2018 ICO of Shopin tokens raised about $42.5 million. The SEC said Shopin never built a functional platform and that Eyal lied about retailer partnerships and a prominent backer, misappropriating at least ~$500,000 for personal use (rent, shopping, a dating service). [1][2]
Outcome
In December 2019, the New York Attorney General secured Eyal's guilty plea to felony securities fraud under the Martin Act (plus two counts tied to prior companies, Springleap and Passo Sync); he was banned from raising capital or serving as an officer in New York for three years, ordered to pay restitution, and surrendered ~3,105 ETH. The SEC obtained a 2020 final judgment with an officer-and-director bar and a digital-securities bar. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
- AG James Announces Criminal Conviction of Shopin's Eran Eyal for Cryptocurrency Scheme — New York Attorney General
- SEC Charges Founder, Digital-Asset Issuer With Fraudulent ICO (Shopin) — U.S. SEC
See also
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) — Justin Sun token freezeProjectsWLFI, a DeFi project linked to Donald Trump and his family, blacklisted/froze the wallet of major investor Justin Sun in Sept 2025 — ~540–595M unlocked WLFI tokens (~$107M) plus ~2.4B locked. Sun sued, alleging an undisclosed admin 'blacklist backdoor'; WLFI denied it and threatened a countersuit. The dispute is ongoing.
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
