The US Securities and Exchange Commission has accused the cryptocurrency trading platform Poloniex of violating securities trading regulations.
According to one announcement The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Monday that Poloniex provided U.S. investors with cryptocurrency transactions considered securities on its platform between July 2017 and November 2019, which violated Section 5 of the Exchange Act. Regulations without being formally registered as a securities broker.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s indictment also stated that employees of the exchange actively sought to circumvent securities regulation in order to increase the company’s market share. According to Kristina Littman, the Commissioner’s Director of Enforcement:
“Poloniex chose to increase profits by including digital asset securities on its unregistered exchanges instead of complying with federal securities laws. […] Poloniex attempts to circumvent the SEC’s regulatory system, which applies to any market that brings together buyers and sellers of securities, regardless of the technology used. “
According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s announcement, Poloniex chose neither to admit nor deny any wrongdoing, but will pay approximately $10.3 million in fines while agreeing to the suspension order. In addition to the pre-judgment interest of more than US$403,000, Poloniex will pay US$8.4 million of the total fine and a civil penalty of US$1.5 million.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, Dollar coin (USDC) The stablecoin issuer Circle acquired Poloniex for USD 400 million in February 2018. The exchange changed its name to Polo Digital Assets In October 2019, the United States was excluded from its services due to unfavorable regulations.
As early as June, it was reported that Circle lost approximately US$156 million in its initial acquisition of Poloniex due to the legal settlement of cases allegedly involving the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
