Investing
New York AG Sues CoinEx for Failing to Register With State, SEC, CFTC
Published:
On Wednesday, February 22nd, New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a petition against the cryptocurrency exchange CoinEX seeking to prevent it from operating in the state. According to the announcement, CoinEX violated the Martin Act by failing to register with the state and failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
New York Moves to Ban CoinEX From Operating in the State
According to the Wednesday release, the NY Attorney General is seeking to prevent the cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx from operating in the state. The OAG states their agents were able to use the platform to trade cryptocurrencies despite the fact that the company is not registered to operate in New York.
The announcement describes Terraform Labs’ LUNA, LBRY’s LBC, Flexa’s AMP, and Rally’s RLY as securities and commodities offered by CoinEX and explains that their offering constitutes a violation of the state’s Martin Act. Furthermore, the OAG alleges that CoinEx misled investors by claiming to be an exchange without previously registering with the SEC and the CFTC.
Finally, the release states that CoinEx failed to comply with a subpoena issued by the OAG requesting additional information about the company’s operations in the state. Attorney General James is seeking to block New York-based IP addresses from accessing CoinEx’s platform. Furthermore, she is requesting the company be blocked from operating in the state and prevented from falsely representing itself as an exchange.
New York Regulators Increasingly Set Their Sights on Crypto
In recent months, New York state regulators have been increasing their efforts against various cryptocurrency companies. The office of Attorney James joined seven other states in an enforcement action against the cryptocurrency lender Nexo. Subsequently, Nexo announced it would be exiting the United States due to increased regulatory pressure.
More recently, the New York Attorney General called on Congress to ban Bitcoin from being included in retirement plans. A similar action has been taken by an Elizabeth Warren-led group of lawmakers which called on Fidelity to discontinue its BTC 401(k) offering on three occasions throughout 2022.
On February 13th, the stablecoin issuer Paxos was ordered to stop minting its Binance-branded BUSD by the New York Department of Financial Services. Paxos also found itself a target of an SEC enforcement action alleging that BUSD constitutes an unregistered securities offering.
This article originally appeared on The Tokenist
Get Ready To Retire (Sponsored)
Start by taking a quick retirement quiz from SmartAsset that will match you with up to 3 financial advisors that serve your area and beyond in 5 minutes, or less.
Each advisor has been vetted by SmartAsset and is held to a fiduciary standard to act in your best interests.
Here’s how it works:
1. Answer SmartAsset advisor match quiz
2. Review your pre-screened matches at your leisure. Check out the advisors’ profiles.
3. Speak with advisors at no cost to you. Have an introductory call on the phone or introduction in person and choose whom to work with in the future
Get started right here.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
