The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comes for yet another crypto platform as it charges Bittrex, Inc. and its co-founder and former CEO William Shihara for operating an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.
“The SEC also charged Bittrex, Inc.’s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH, for failing to register as a national securities exchange in connection with its operation of a single shared order book along with Bittrex,” the report says.
In addition, according to the SEC’s complaint, Bittrex and Bittrex Global should have registered as exchanges because they combined orders for securities from numerous buyers and sellers using a shared order book using established, non-discretionary methods.
Amon the charges, SEC listed crypto tokens OMG Network (OMG), Dash (DASH), Monolith (TKN), Naga (NGC), Real Estate Protocol (IHT), and Algorand (ALGO) as a non-exhaustive list of six examples of crypto asset securities available for trading on the Bittrex.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated: “Today’s action, yet again, makes plain that the crypto markets suffer from a lack of regulatory compliance, not a lack of regulatory clarity. As alleged in our complaint, Bittrex and issuers that it worked with knew the rules that applied to them but went to great lengths to evade them by directing issuer-applicants to ‘scrub‘ offering materials of information indicating that certain crypto assets were securities.”
“Further, Bittrex, as alleged, failed to register and comply with U.S. securities laws as an exchange, broker-dealer, and clearing agency. Cosmetic alterations did nothing to change the underlying economic realities of the offerings and Bittrex’s conduct. Today we’re holding Bittrex accountable for its non-compliance,” Gensler added.
Just yesterday WSJ reported that the SEC may take enforcement action against Bittrex for violating regulations regarding investor protection. Due to the company’s decision to cease business in the United States, Bittrex was unsure whether the SEC will bring a lawsuit in this matter.
Also Read: Bittrex Will No Longer Operate in US Due to “Regulatory Environment”
