Britain's Cambridge Analytica, which was alleged to be behind the data leak of as much as 87 million Facebook users, was earlier planning to raise money by issuing a new type of cryptocurrency, reports said citing sources familiar with the matter.
The data analytics consultancy was planning to raise as much as $30 million and had approached a company that advises on initial coin offering or ICO, an online fundraising scheme for the issue of a new digital currency.
The firm is said to have started working on its own ICO in mid-2017, with the efforts overseen by then CEO Alexander Nix and former employee Brittany Kaiser.
Reuters reported, citing a Cambridge Analytica spokesman, that the firm was looking at using blockchain, the technology behind bitcoin and other digital currencies, to help people secure their online data.
Further, The New York Times reported, citing documents and emails, that Cambridge Analytica tried to promote another group's digital token, the Dragon Coin, a cryptocurrency aimed at casino players. The coin is said to be associated with a famous gangster in Macau, Wan Kuok-koi, who has the nickname Broken Tooth.
The British consultancy was under intense scrutiny in the last month after reports of it improperly gaining access to personal data of a huge number of Facebook users.
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May 01, 2026 15:54 ET Central banks dominated the economics news flow this week with almost all major ones announcing their latest policy decisions and many boosted expectations for a rate hike in June. In other news, several countries released the preliminary data for first quarter economic growth. In the U.S., comments by Fed Chair Jerome Powell were also in focus as his term ends this month.