SEC Expands List of Dubious Cryptocurrency Firms

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expanded the list of ‘misleading’ companies linked to digital assets. As stated in a press release.

The list, titled ‘Public Alert: Unregistered Soliciting Entities’ (PAUSE), is for informational purposes and does not imply that the firms listed there have violated the law.

The PAUSE includes organisations whose activities, in the regulator’s view, raise concerns. Another criterion is a name that resembles that of well-known firms.

As examples, the SEC named projects SuperBinance and Superfxtrading — investors may confuse them with the Bitcoin exchanges Binance and FTX. The list includes the firm Gemini M&A, and among the newcomers are Bittrade Capitals, 247Crypto Trade and Bitpayfxpro.

The Commission noted that the PAUSE-listed companies provided misleading information ‘about affiliation, location and registration’. However, the SEC does not acknowledge that such firms cloak themselves behind well-known names, calling them ‘unlicensed entities’ processing transactions.

In November 2020 the Texas financial regulator issued three emergency orders to halt the operations of 14 cryptocurrency companies suspected of fraud.

In March 2021 the state authorities filed claims against three unregistered projects. One of them operated under the Binance Bitcoin exchange brand.

In October that year, the New Jersey Bureau of Securities issued an order to suspend the activities of five crypto companies amid suspicions of fraud.

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