US SEC to Impose Charges Against Bitcoin-Backed Securities Dealer

Where in cryptocurrency frauds are increasing frighteningly, one more incidence has come into light. 1pool Ltd. is an international securities dealer, and it was offering Bitcoin funded security-based swaps, says an announcement from SEC.

As SEC said, 1pool Ltd.is the Marshall Islands-based corporation, which is behind 1broker.com and also offers services regarding cryptocurrency. Patrick Brunner is the CEO of 1pool Ltd., who is based in Austria.

A complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and requires permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus interest, and penalties. SEC claims that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has filed its charges opposed to 1pool at the same time.

The complaint proclaims that the parties broke federal securities laws attached with security-based swaps funded with Bitcoin.

As stated in the complaint, a particular agent with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), as an undercover brought security-based swaps on 1broker’s platform from the U.S. However, he did not obey the discretionary investment thresholds by the federal securities laws, which was necessary.

On this note, Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, Shamoil T. Shipchandler said that “International companies that transact with U.S. investors cannot circumvent compliance with the federal securities laws by using cryptocurrency.”

Further adding SEC stated that Brunner and 1broker couldn’t transact its security-based swaps on a traditional exchange registered in the U.S., also couldn’t register appropriately as a security-based swaps dealer.

Additionally, in this week the SEC declared it is requiring sanctions against the individuals backing the allegedly fraudulent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) known as PlexCoin, as they are accused of “misappropriating” investor funds which were accumulated in a fallacious, fraudulent, and unregistered securities offering.

Apart from that, this month, the SEC issued a cease and desist order and a $200,000 penalty to Crypto Asset Management (CAM) and its founder Timothy Enneking. The SEC order stats that CAM “misrepresented” itself as the “first regulated crypto asset fund in the United States,” also obtained $3.6 million from 44 investors later in 2017, making its net asset value to $37 million.