Poloniex LLC settles charges with the SEC by agreeing to pay over…

The US regulatory board, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced today that one of the oldest crypto exchanges, Poloniex LLC, has agreed to pay more than $10 million as a settlement. As per the official announcement,

“Poloniex LLC has agreed to pay more than $10 million to settle charges for operating an unregistered online digital asset exchange in connection with its operation of a trading platform that facilitated buying and selling of digital asset securities.”

According to the SEC, “Poloniex did not register as a national securities exchange nor did it operate pursuant to an exemption from registration” and the same violation of the Exchange Act.

In this regard, Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, stated that Poloniex chose “increased profits over compliance with the federal securities laws.” She further mentioned that the Exchange tried to “circumvent the SEC’s regulatory regime, which applies to any marketplace for bringing together buyers and sellers of securities regardless of the applied technology.”

Although, here’s the interesting part. Poloniex chose to neither admit nor deny any wrongdoings, instead directly agreed to pay the penalty. According to The SEC press release in this regard,

“Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Poloniex agreed to the entry of a cease-and-desist order and agreed to pay disgorgement of $8,484,313, prejudgment interest of $403,995, and a civil penalty of $1.5 million for a total of $10,388,309.  The order establishes a Fair Fund for the benefit of victims.”

However, it is noteworthy that exchange is now listed with the SEC and incorporated in the state of Montana. That said, this wasn’t the first time that Poloniex came face to face with the SEC.