Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Bittrex and its CEO have reached a $24 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), after the commission accused it in April of operating as an unregistered exchange .
The exchange and former CEO William Shihara neither admitted nor denied the allegations, according to court documents filed Thursday. Bittrex’s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH, also agreed to resolve the SEC’s allegations that it was not registered as a national securities exchange, the SEC said in a statement.
"For years, Bittrex has worked with token issuers to 'wash' their online statements for any indication that they were investment contracts, all in an effort to evade federal securities laws. They have failed," said Gurbir Gurbir, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. S. Grewal said in a statement. "Today's settlement makes clear that you can't escape liability just by changing the label or modifying the description, because what matters is the economic reality of these proposals," he continued.
Bittrex filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May, when it said its assets and liabilities were estimated to be worth $500 million to $1 billion each. (The Block)