Crypto Lender Nexo to Pay $45M, Cease Offering EIP in Settlement With SEC
Nexo began offering its Earn Interest Product to U.S. customers in June 2020.
Jan 19, 2023 at 10:27 p.m. UTC:format(webp)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/coindesk/XIHKTO5EIVDGFCYPQXPWDFD66U.jpg)
Antoni Trenchev, co-founder, Nexo (Shutterstock/CoinDesk)
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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged crypto lender Nexo with failing to register the offer and sale of its Earn Interest Product (EIP). Nexo has agreed to pay a $22.5 million fine to the SEC and another $22.5 million to settle similar charges by state regulators.
In agreeing to the settlement, the SEC took note of Nexo's decision in December 2022 to voluntarily halt access to its EIP in eight states and stop signing up any new U.S. customers. Previously to that, Nexo had off-boarded clients in two other states.
Nexo faces regulatory issues elsewhere as well, with a report last week of Bulgarian authorities probing the company on suspicion of money laundering, tax offenses, banking without a license and computer fraud.
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