The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against another startup in the crypto space for selling unregistered securities. Tierion, which raised $25 million in a token sale, has agreed to “return money to investors” and disable the trading of its token.
SEC Brings Charges Against Tierion Over Its Crypto Offering
Texas-based blockchain company Tierion Inc. has settled charges with the SEC for conducting an unregistered security offering when it sold the TNT token. The settlement followed the SEC’s order instituting cease-and-desist proceedings against the company. The securities regulator detailed:
Tierion has agreed to return funds to harmed investors, pay a $250,000 penalty, and disable trading in its ‘tokens’ … Tierion raised approximately $25 million through the sale of ‘Tierion Network Tokens’ (TNT) in July of 2017.
The SEC clarified that under the settlement agreement, Tierion will “provide compensation to current holders of TNT who purchased in the token sale or in the secondary market, or who received TNT as a reward from Tierion, and to those who purchased TNT in the token offering and later sold at a loss.” The company consented to the SEC’s order without admitting or denying the regulator’s findings.
Moreover, the SEC explained that Tierion told investors that it would “use the sale proceeds to fund the continued development of the ‘Tierion Network,’ through which Tierion would offer a ‘blockchain receipt’ service and other yet-to-be-developed services.” The regulator finds that “TNT are securities” and Tierion did not register its token sale, therefore violating securities registration provisions.
Following the SEC news, the price of TNT dropped from about $0.0064 on Dec. 23 to $0.0022 on Dec. 26.
Along with the settlement, Tierion has been granted a waiver from the SEC, allowing it to complete the retirement of the TNT token, CEO Wayne Vaughan explained on Wednesday. He added that the TNT token will not be registered as a security.
A day prior, the SEC charged Ripple Labs, its CEO Brad Garlinghouse and co-founder Christian Larsen with conducting a $1.3 billion unregistered securities offering of the XRP cryptocurrency.
What do you think about the SEC’s action against Tierion? Let us know in the comments section below.
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