[ad_1]
A new report shows that U.S. regulators have so far imposed fines and penalties totaling $ 2.5 billion on crypto firms and individuals. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) imposed the most fines, followed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Meanwhile, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is the latest government agency to come after crypto firms.
$ 2.5 billion in fines and penalties
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic released a report on Monday describing “U.S. regulators’ actions to enforce crypto.” The report explains, “Contrary to the widely held belief that the cryptoasset industry is unregulated, US regulators are increasingly imposing significant financial penalties on crypto firms – for fraud, regulatory violations. AML, offering of unregistered securities and violation of sanctions.
Elliptic analyzed the enforcement actions taken by US regulators since the birth of Bitcoin in 2009 and found that “$ 2.5 billion in penalties have been imposed on businesses and individuals who deal in crypto,” details The report.
The agency that has imposed the most crypto-related sanctions is the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). So far, the SEC has asked crypto companies and individuals to pay $ 1.69 billion, of which $ 1.38 billion relates to unregistered security offerings.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) came in second with enforcement actions totaling $ 624 million. The third is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a unit of the US Treasury Department, endowed with $ 183 million.
The fourth is the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the latest government agency to take action against crypto companies. OFAC imposed $ 606,000 on crypto entities in total. Among the companies fined by OFAC were Bitgo and Bitpay; both would have allowed their users to circumvent US sanctions.
The largest enforcement action to date took place in 2020 against Telegram Group Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Ton Issuer Inc., the report notes. The SEC alleged that Telegram’s tokens, known as “grams”, were an unregistered securities offering. The defendants agreed to hand over more than $ 1.2 billion to investors and pay a civil fine of $ 18.5 million.
The report concludes:
Our analysis of crypto-asset enforcement actions in the United States shows that crypto is far from the ‘wild west’ of finance. Regulators have successfully used existing laws to stop and penalize the illicit activities that have exploited cryptoassets.
What do you think of all this coercive actions by US regulators against crypto companies and individuals? Let us know in the comments section below.
Keywords in this story CFTC, crypto companies, crypto execution stocks, crypto fines, crypto penalties, Elliptical, execution stocks, fincen, OFAC, penalties, SEC, unregistered securities
Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Elliptical
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This is not a direct offer or the solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, nor a recommendation or endorsement of any product, service or business. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or allegedly caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, good or service mentioned in this article.
[ad_2]
picture credit