Breaking: US SEC takes action against crypto exchange Bittrex and its former CEO

The United States Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) has taken action against yet another crypto entity. This time around, crypto exchange - Bittrex and its former CEO have fallen under the radar of the enforcement authority. In its press release, the SEC is taking action against the crypto exchange and its former executive for not registering as a national securities exchange, clearing agency, and broker.

The former CEO was identified as William Shihara, who was also the co-founder of the exchange. The press release further read,

"The SEC also charged Bittrex, Inc.’s foreign affiliate, Bittrex Global GmbH, for failing to register as a national securities exchange in connection with its operation of a single shared order book along with Bittrex."

Notably, before moving to take legal action, the commission had sent a Wells Notice to the exchange, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Moreover, the notice was sent before the exchange announced its decision to wind down its operations in the United States. The reason for this move was cited as "not economically viable for us to continue to operate in the current U.S. regulatory and economic environment." The exchange is expected to exit the market by the end of this month, i.e., 30th April 2023.

SEC lists more crypto assets as securities

Furthermore, in its complaint against the exchange, the SEC claimed that the exchange offered and sold tokens that were securities. The complaint listed OmiseGo (OMG), DASH, Algorand (ALGO), TokenCard (TKN), NAGA (NGC), I-House Token (IHT) as securities.

Additionally, the commission alleges that the exchange proceeded to list tokens that it had "recognized had the characteristics of securities". These tokens were identified as MANA and Powerledger (POWR).

The story is still developing...

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