Over the past seven years, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has initiated 75 enforcement actions against cryptocurrency companies, fining them $ 1.7 billion.
According to a report by Cornerstone Research, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled 70% of disputes against cryptocurrency firms, having imposed $ 1.77 billion in fines on them since 2013.
“Over the past seven years, the SEC has established itself as one of the main regulators overseeing the cryptocurrency industry,” said report author Simona Mola.
She noted that between July 1, 2013 and December 31, 2020, the SEC initiated 75 enforcement actions, as well as numerous subpoenas and subsequent administrative orders that related to cryptoassets and related entities. These organizations include cryptoasset issuers, brokers, exchanges, and other service providers. The most frequent allegations were fraud (52%) and placement of unregistered securities (69%). Moreover, in 37% of cases, companies were accused of both counts.
The ICO boom in the summer of 2017 was the “hottest” period in the SEC’s activities – more than half of the actions related to crypto assets were related to ICOs and unregistered securities offerings. It is noteworthy that most of the SEC lawsuits, which were considered in US district courts (34 out of 43), concerned various firms and individuals. A total of seven disputes concerned only individuals, and two were directed exclusively against companies. At the same time, about half of all claims were considered in the state of New York.
One of the most high-profile cases initiated by the SEC was the lawsuit against Telegram. In October 2019, the SEC accused the messenger of an unregistered token sale violating the Securities Act of 1933. Last summer, Telegram agreed to pay $ 18.5 million to settle a lawsuit with the SEC over the TON ICO. In addition, the company had to return $ 1.22 billion to investors. Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also filed a lawsuit against Ripple and accused the company’s management of manipulating the price of XRP.
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