The SEC allegedly informed well-known cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex of a potential enforcement action, alleging that the firm had broken rules pertaining to investor protection.
The WSJ reported that “The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement staff told Bittrex in March it would recommend that the agency sue the company over alleged violations of investor-protection laws, according to David Maria, the company’s general counsel.”
Bittrex announced in March that it would no longer operate in the US due to the “Regulatory Environment”. Richie Lai, co-founder and CEO of Bittrex, decided to close the US business due to the difficulty of surviving in the market.
The SEC said that Bittrex had broken the law by operating as an exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse without registering with the agency.
The SEC and Bittrex discussed how to register their business in late 2022, but Bittrex discovered that there was no way to abide by the SEC’s regulations without essentially ending all of its revenue-generating operations in the nation. Bittrex is unsure whether the SEC will bring a lawsuit in this matter.
Compiled by Coinbold