Crypto enforcement actions issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) continue at pace, as the Commission has filed charges against Chicago-based Cumberland DRW LLC.
The SEC has charged Cumberland with operating as an unregistered dealer in more than $2 billion of crypto assets offered and sold.
The SEC alleges that Cumberland has been operating as an unregistered dealer in crypto since March of 2018.
The SEC has consistently stated that all crypto should be considered to be securities, perhaps with the exception of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Jorge Tenreiro, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit (CACU), said the securities law requires dealers to register with the commission and crypto is no exception.
“Despite frequent protestations by the industry that sales of crypto assets are all akin to sales of commodities, our complaint alleges that Cumberland, the respective issuers, and objective investors treated the offer and sale of the crypto assets at issue in this case as investments in securities, and Cumberland profited from its dealer activity in these assets without providing investors and the market with the important protections afforded by registration.”
The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. Cumberland has yet to comment on the SEC’s decision to file suite against the platform.