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What's Trending: US Regulators Target Digital Asset Platforms
Practical Law Legal Update w-032-2789 (Approx. 5 pages)
What's Trending: US Regulators Target Digital Asset Platforms
by Practical Law Finance
| Published on 13 Aug 2021 • USA (National/Federal) |
A roundup of major enforcement activity by US federal regulators in the digital asset space this past week.
This week saw a flurry of major enforcement activity by US federal regulators in the digital asset space. With the initial coin offering (ICO) craze subsiding, regulators have turned their focus to cryptocurrency and digital asset platforms, announcing the following enforcement actions over the past week:
- BitMEX: On August 10, 2021, FinCEN and the CFTC settled charges against the owners and operators of offshore cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange (BitMEX) for operating an unregistered trading platform and violating multiple regulations, including failing to implement required anti-money laundering (AML) procedures. For details, see Legal Update, CFTC and FinCEN Settle Charges Against Offshore Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange BitMEX.
- Poloniex. On August 9, 2021, the SEC settled charges against Poloniex LLC, a web-based trading platform, for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange that facilitated buying and selling digital asset securities in violation of the US securities laws. For details, see Legal Update, SEC Settles Charges Against Trading Platform Poloniex for Operating Unregistered Digital Asset Exchange.
- DeFi Money Market. On August 6, 2021, in its first case against a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, the SEC filed a complaint and settled charges against DeFi Money Market (DMM) and its founders for failing to register sales of digital asset securities – including certain "mTokens" deemed to be debt securities – and for misleading investors. For details, see Legal Update, SEC Settles Charges Against DeFi Platform DMM for Unregistered Offerings of Digital Asset Securities.