Key Takeaways
- The SEC is charging Dragonchain Inc, Dragonchain Basis, The Dragon Firm, and Dragonchain founder and CEO Joe Roets for allegedly promoting unregistered securities.
- The company claims the defendants raised over $16.5 million from 5,000 worldwide throughout Dragonchain’s preliminary coin providing and within the years since.
- The SEC is has been ramping up enforcement actions in current months, drawing fierce criticism from the business.
Share this text
The SEC has charged Dragonchain with promoting $16.5 million in unregistered securities; Dragonchain founder and CEO Joe Roets says he has a “very sturdy case” towards the costs.
SEC Prices Dragonchain
U.S. regulators are coming after Dragonchain.
The Securities and Trade Fee (SEC) announced as we speak that it was charging Dragonchain founder and CEO Joe Roets for allegedly elevating $16.5 million by promoting unregistered crypto securities. The company can also be charging three entities related to Roets: Dragonchain Inc., Dragonchain Basis and The Dragon Firm.
In line with the SEC, the defendants made $14 million from roughly 5,000 buyers world wide by way of Dragonchain’s preliminary coin providing in 2017. They then made an extra $2.5 million within the interval between 2019 and 2022 by way of the regular promoting of the DRGN token.
The SEC is looking for everlasting injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgement curiosity, civil penalties, and conduct-based injunctions towards Roets and his affiliated entities.
Roets, who had beforehand been notified by the SEC of the investigation, preemptively addressed the costs in an open letter dated Might 25. He acknowledged he was assured he had a “very sturdy case” and that the SEC was “selecting and selecting initiatives to focus on, usually singling out those with the most important alternative to disrupt incumbent pursuits, whereas giving a free go to others.”
The SEC has ramped up its enforcement efforts lately. Final month it declared 9 crypto tokens listed on Coinbase have been, in actual fact, unregistered securities; it’s also reportedly investigating the alternate for permitting its clients commerce such tokens. The company’s regulatory strategy, which has been described as “regulation by enforcement” by crypto business leaders, lawmakers, and regulators alike, has nonetheless been met with fierce criticism.
Disclosure: On the time of writing, the creator of this piece owned ETH and a number of other different cryptocurrencies.