cryptojournalist
The SEC recently took action against Blockworks Foundation and Mango Labs for their involvement in trading securities on the Mango Markets platform. These companies were helping users with things like setting up accounts, managing funds, and giving investment advice.
The SEC was clear that using decentralized tech doesn’t give companies a free pass on following federal securities laws. Jorge G. Tenreiro, the Acting Chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, emphasized that just because a project is called a DAO or uses open-source software doesn’t mean it can ignore regulations. Any company involved in securities trading still has to register or qualify for an exemption, regardless of how they’re structured.
In another case, the SEC reached a settlement with TrustToken and TrueCoin, the companies behind TrueUSD. They were accused of offering unregistered securities and making misleading claims in their marketing. From November 2020 to April 2023, they allegedly promoted TrueUSD as an unregistered investment contract and operated the TrueFi lending platform without proper registration. TrustToken and TrueCoin agreed to pay $700,000 in penalties, although they didn’t admit to or deny the accusations
