In the past year, the SEC collected more than $4.68 billion in penalties for unregistered ICOs

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) collected more than $4.68 billion in penalties and fines. A quarter of this amount — $1.26 billion — came from Telegram’s ICO and token sales by cryptocurrency companies, it says in the 2020 annual report.

One of the largest cases was the case against Telegram — in June the company was fined $18.5 million. It agreed to reimburse investors $1.2 billion.

In 2019 the SEC charged the developer of the Kik Messenger with an unregistered sale of securities during the 2017 ICO. Under the agreement the firm will pay $5 million.

The report mentions BitClave, which agreed to return more than $25 million to investors, Unikrn ($6.1 million), Boon Tech ($5 million). Also in June 2020 the CEO of the cryptocurrency company Shopin, Eral Eyal, agreed to pay a $450,000 penalty following an SEC suit.

The total amount of penalties, $4.68 billion, was described by SEC Enforcement Director Stephanie Avakyan as a record.

Earlier in November, the regulator increased the fundraising limit for regulated crowdfunding campaigns to $5 million and lifted restrictions on accredited investors.

Follow ForkLog news on VK!