Contents Protocol Team, a South Korean cryptocurrency startup that raised over 29,300 ether via an initial coin offering (ICO) and a private token sale in 2018, is shutting down and refunding its investors.

According to the startup’s website, Contents Protocol decided to shut down and refunds its investors over a continued lack of regulatory uncertainty, and over difficulties with its own goal of collecting data from local platforms like Watcha and Watcha Play. Watcha is a Korean movie rating and recommendations service, while Watcha Play is a streaming service similar to Netflix.

The startup was looking to reward the platforms and their users with its own native token, the CPT, for the data it collected, so it could then sell the data to content providers and create a better content production ecosystem. The idea didn’t seem to work as the platform didn’t see cryptocurrencies in a favorable light. The website reads:

There were numerous difficulties in encouraging participation from content consumers because of their negative perception toward cryptocurrency, price volatility and complex user experience. It was also a challenge to bring in content platforms who would provide data to Contents Protocol.

The firm added that since its capacity to collect data was limited, it was hard to give content producers insightful data that helped them improved the ecosystem. Legal and accounting risks associated with the uncertainty surrounding crypto taxes also contributed to the firm’s fallout.

Contents Protocol detailed it’s liquidating and distributing its remaining assets to investors based on the legal opinion and advisory from law firms in both Korea and Singapore. Its assets are to be converted to ether and then distributed to CPT token holders who requested an ETH compensation.

Its initial coin offering was held in December 2018, where it raised 29,337 ETH when the cryptocurrency was trading at about $115. It currently has 26,878 ETH in its reserves which will be distributed to CPT holders following a specific ratio:

asset distribution ratioSource: Contents Protocol

According to CryptoCompare data, ether is currently trading at $281 after rising over 72.8% in the last 30 days.

Featured image via Pixabay.