Digital currencies continue to be the focus of regulatory attention. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today announced the largest concerted enforcement action by state and regional securities regulators in the United States and Canada.
NASAA's efforts will be aimed at stopping fraudulent use of ICOs, cryptocurrency-related investment products and the companies behind them.
More than 40 people took part in the concerted regulatory action, codenamed “Operation Cryptosweep”. jurisdictions throughout North America. The Operation has, at the time of writing, filed 70 requests for information and 35 enforcement actions related to ICOs or cryptocurrencies.
Joseph P. Borg, President of NASAA and Director of the Alabama Securities Commission, noted that: “Also, approximately 30,000 cryptocurrency-related domain name registrations were discovered, most of which appeared in 2017 and 2018 years."
In April 2018, NASAA initiated a coordinated series of investigations into ICOs and investment products related to cryptocurrencies. Regulators have discovered a large number of such products and hundreds of ICOs in the final stages of preparation. These ICOs were advertised and posted on websites to attract investors. The regulator has already checked many of them, and some are still awaiting verification.
As a reminder, US and Canadian authorities often cooperate in their enforcement efforts against digital currency fraud. One recent example concerns a case brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against PlexCorps. The SEC sought help from the Quebec Superior Court to collect testimony and documents. The documents requested from the defendants Lacroix and Paradis-Royer included all communications and documents between the defendants and the United States regarding PlexCorps and the PlexCoin ICO.
Read also: Ernst & Analysts Young believe that 10% of funds invested in ICO are stolen
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