Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
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Bittrex has reached a settlement agreement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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The crypto exchange is set to pay a fine of $24 million.
Bittrex To Pay A $24M Fine
Cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex has settled charges with the United States SEC. The crypto exchange settled with the regulator over charges of offering US investors access to unregistered securities.
The deal was agreed on Thursday, and the cryptocurrency exchange is set to pay a $24 million fine. This latest development comes a few weeks after the United States arm of the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy.
The securities regulatory sued Bittrex earlier this year, alleging that the cryptocurrency exchange simultaneously operated a securities exchange, broker and clearinghouse without registering any of its services with the SEC.
The SEC also filed similar charges against rival cryptocurrency exchanges Binance.US and Coinbase earlier this year. According to the regulatory agency, Bittrex directed cryptocurrency issuers to delete public statements that could suggest their tokens violate United States securities law.
According to its recent filing, the cryptocurrency exchange didn’t admit or deny the allegations and cannot make any public statements that might suggest that the regulatory agency didn't have a factual basis for its allegations.
The breakdown of the $24 million fine includes $14.4 million in disgorgement, $4 million in prejudgment interest on that disgorgement and $5.6 million in civil money penalties.
The cryptocurrency exchange was given 90 days after its liquidation plan is effective to pay the SEC. The court filing stated that;
"Defendants agree that, as to Bittrex, the terms of the settlement reflected in this Consent and in the Judgment are subject to approval by the Bankruptcy Court in the Bankruptcy Case and shall be treated as an allowed, unsecured claim under the terms of any Plan filed by Bittrex in the Bankruptcy Case."
While commenting on this latest development, SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal stated that;
"Today’s settlement makes clear that you cannot escape liability by simply changing labels or altering descriptions because what matters is the economic realities of those offerings. I am grateful to the SEC staff for aggressively pursuing non-compliance in the crypto industry, resolving this matter, and bringing additional relief to harmed investors."
The SEC has clamped down on cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance and US, since the start of the year.
