Two Wall Street regulators announced a series of actions, including the imposition of fines, against companies involved with cryptocurrencies, in a burst of activity reflecting efforts to monitor the popular and unregulated activity class .
Cryptocurrencies, like the well-known Bitcoin, are virtual tokens that can be used as forms of payment on a variety of online applications. They can also be exchanged on special online exchanges.
Securities regulators have stepped up control over the emerging asset class, noting that some tokens may be considered as securities, which would make their issuance, sale and trading subject to federal laws. [19659004] The story continues under the publicity
United States The chairman of the Exchange Securities and Exchange Grant, Jay Clayton, said in February that he believed that most of the sales of new tokens, known as initial bids of coins, should be considered titles. However, the SEC has not specifically classified which coins are securities.
A New York federal judge ruled on Tuesday that a case could proceed where US securities law was used to prosecute cases of fraud involving cryptocurrency offers.
On Tuesday, the first of the three separate actions announced, the Regulatory Authority of the Financial Industry (FINRA) accused Timothy Ayre, owner of Rocky Mountain Ayre, of having committed securities frauds after selling and marketing HempCoin digital activity.
HempCoin was supported by shares in Rocky Mountain Ayre, but Ayre did not register the currency as a security, said FINRA. Between 2016 and 2017, investors extracted over 81 million hemp, which they traded with C-Cex and Yobit in the cryptocurrency trade.
Ayre may be subject to a fine or suspension from the securities industry. Franklin Ogele, a lawyer representing Ayre, said they are planning to fight the allegations because it is not clear that Hempcoin can be considered a security.
The SEC separately on Tuesday declared TokenLot and its heads Lenny Kugel and Eli Lewitt agreed to pay $ 471,000 in disgorgement plus interest to liquidate the charges of acting as an unregistered broker-dealer for the sale of digital tokens.
Kugel declined to comment on the agreement. Kugel, Lewitt and TokenLot did not admit or deny the SEC conclusions.
The story continues under publicity
The story continues under publicity
Finally, the SEC said that the hedge fund Crypto Asset Management LP agreed to pay a penalty of $ 200,000 after it was found that he had offered a fund that he falsely claimed was regulated by the SEC when it was not.
The fund and its manager Tim Enneking, who had also been nominated in the order, did not admit or deny the SEC conclusions. [19659002] During a telephone interview, the company collaborated with the SEC and removed two statements from its website as soon as the regulatory authority has informed the problem.
"There is nothing in the order of financial misconduct, no investor has been damaged and this has not affected the operation or performance of the fund," said Enneking.
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