Bloomberg The US Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order freezing the assets of an Texas-based initial coin offering (ICO) that claimed to have raised more than $600 million. The order filed in federal court in Dallas halts AriseBank from raising any additional cash from investors, according to a statement from SEC. The agency alleges Jared Rice, 29, illegally …

Bloomberg The center of gravity in Europe’s natural gas market is heading south as one of the continent’s biggest pipeline operators builds a system that could make Italy an exporter of the fuel for the first time. Fortified with new supplies due from a $5.6 billion pipeline link to the Caspian Sea as well as tankers full of gas in …

Bloomberg Nigeria plans to start building a $5.8 billion hydro-power plant in the eastern Mambila region this year, after it agrees on loan terms with China’s Export-Import Bank. “We hope to break ground this year if we can conclude the financing,” Power, Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola said in a Jan. 23 interview in the capital, Abuja. “Contracts are …