The US Securities and Exchange Commission announced on the 8th that it filed charges against crypto-start up Rivetz and its founder Steven K. Sprague for allegedly selling unregistered securities in the United States.
Rivetz is a blockchain security project that sold its digital tokens ‘RvT’ between June and September 2017. According to the complaint documents, over 7,200 investors across the world purchased the RvT tokens for over $18,000,000.
The SEC filed a complaint alleging that the RvT token was not available for the purchase of services or goods at the time of sale, which constitutes a violation of unregistered securities sales. The investors also did not receive the disclosures required by the federal securities laws.
Finally, the SEC requested the court to order the defendants to surrender the ill-gotten gains and pay a civil penalty along with a pre-adjustment interest.
Since 2019, the SEC has taken several legal actions against various projects that have raised funds from US investors between 2017 and 2018.
On Sept. 8, popular cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase revealed it was warned by the financial authority against launching its new ‘LEND’ program that offers interest to stablecoin holders. The company revealed that the SEC threatened to file a lawsuit against Coinbase without providing sufficient reasonings.