In April 2018, NASAA organized a task force of its member state and provincial securities regulators to begin a coordinated series of investigations into ICOs and cryptocurrency-related investment products.
Regulators identified many cryptocurrency-related products and as part of its work, the task force identified hundreds of ICOs in the final stages of preparation before being launched to the public. These pending ICOs were advertised and listed on ICO aggregation sites to attract investor interest. Many have been examined and some were determined to warrant further investigation. A number of these investigations are ongoing and others resulted in enforcement actions.
NASAA members from more than 40 jurisdictions throughout North America have participated in “Operation Cryptosweep,” which to date has resulted in more than 330 inquiries and investigations and at least 85 enforcement actions related to ICOs or cryptocurrency investment products. NASAA members are conducting additional investigations that may result in additional enforcement actions.
Operation Cryptosweep 2018
| RESPONDENT | AGENCY | ACTION | NOTES |
| Adosia LLC | North Carolina Secretary of State – Securities Division | Consent Order | Unregistered securities offering by unregistered dealer |
| Advertiza Holdings (Pty) Ltd | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Unregistered securities offering by unregistered dealer |
| Antivolatility Coin, ZZZ Coin, Power Invest Group, Frank Bernier, William Bolduc | Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) – QUEBEC (CANADA) | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and sale of unregistered securities; registration violations; offer and sale of derivatives; misleading and deceptive statements; offer of investments in the cryptocurrency mining pools; offer and sale of investment tied to the cryptocurrency ecosystem through multi-level marketing schemes. |
| AWS MINING PTY Ltd. | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Baltic Fund | Office of Missouri Secretary of State Securities Division | Order to Cease & Desist and Order to Show Cause | Offering and selling unregistered, non-exempt securities; making an untrue statement, omitting to state material facts or engaging in an act, practice, or course of business that would operate as a fraud or deceit upon another person in connection with the offer or sale of securities |
| BC Holdings and Investments LLC | Texas State Securities Board | Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; fraud and misleading/deceptive statements |
| Bionic | Indiana Office of the Secretary of State, Securities Division | Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations |
| Bionic Coin | Colorado Division of Securities | Cease & Desist Order | Solicitation of unregistered securities |
| Bitcoin Trading & Cloud Mining Limited AKA BTCRUSH, Jaylon Cross, Bruce Rodgerson, Robin Lozinski and Thomas A. Johnson | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; Fraud in connection with the offer of investments in the cloud-based cryptocurrency mining program; misleading and deceptive statements |
| BitConnect LTD and BitConnect International PLC | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Unregistered securities offered by unregistered dealer |
| BitConnect | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; fraud and misleading/deceptive statements |
| BitConnect and BitConnectX | Office of the Georgia Secretary of State – Securities and Charities Division | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; fraud and misleading/deceptive statements |
| Blue Vase Mining | Massachusetts Securities Division | Consent Order | Selling unregistered or non-exempt securities |
| Broad Investments, LLC, and Guoyong Liu | Colorado Division of Securities | Cease & Desist Order and Order to Show Cause | Sale of unregistered securities |
| Browsers Lab, LLC | Maryland Office of the Attorney General, Securities Division | Summary Order to Cease and Desist and Order to Show Cause | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Acting as an Unregistered Broker-Dealer or Agent; Employment of Unregistered Agent for Sale of Securities; Material Misrepresentation or Omission |
| Bullcoin Foundation a/k/a/ Bullcoin Gold | New Jersey Bureau of Securities, Office of the New Jersey Attorney General | Summary Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Omissions of Material Facts in Connection With The Offer Of Securities |
| Chain Group Escrow Service | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| Coins Miner Investment Ltd | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Fraud and Misleading Statements in the Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities |
| Cryptocashback c/o Kapsus Technologies Ltd. | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| Crystal Token | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Unregistered securities offered by unregistered dealer |
| DasCoin | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| DGBK Ltd., aka DigitalBank, | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Digitalticks | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| Disciplina* | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration *(RESOLVED per regulator) |
| Doctailor | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| Extrabit Ltd; Mack Deacon | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| EXY Crypto | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Forex EA & Bitcoin Investment LLC AKA My Forex EA & Bitcoin Investment LLC AKA My Forex EA, James Butcher and Richard Dunn | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; Fraud in connection with the offer of investments in the forex and cryptocurrency mining program; misleading and deceptive statements |
| Forex EA & Bitcoin Investment LLC a/k/a MY Forex EA, James Butcher, Richard Dunn, and CW Washington | Office of the Georgia Secretary of State – Securities and Charities Division | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Global Pay Net (aka GLPN Coin, CPN Token) | Colorado Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Solicitation of Unregistered Securities |
| Hashkon Inc. | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| Krios | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| LevelNet | Vermont Department of Financial Regulation | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Deceptive Advertising |
| Leverage | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| Life Cross Coin | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities |
| Linda Healthcare Corporation Co. and Arturo Devesa | Colorado Division of Securities | Cease & Desist Order and Order to Show Cause | Sale of Unregistered Securities |
| Magma Foundation, a/k/a Magma Coin | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Unregistered Securities Offered by Unregistered Dealer |
| Mintage Mining | Texas State Securities Board | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| My Crypto Mine | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| NUI Social | Texas State Securities Board | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Pension Rewards Platform | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Unregistered Securities Offered by Unregistered Dealer |
| Platinum Coin; Roman Dinkevich; Sergei Cherepanov, Vladimir Gorshkov, Andrey Malevanchuk, Roman Terekhin | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| Plexcoin | Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) – QUEBEC (CANADA) | Cease & Desist Order | |
| Pooltrade; Harold Theron | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| Power Mining Pool | North Carolina Secretary of State – Securities Division | Permanent Cease and Desist Order | Unregistered securities offering |
| Roaring Investments | Pennsylvania Department of Banking and Securities | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations |
| ShipChain, Inc.* | Office of the South Carolina Attorney General, Securities Division | Administrative Cease & Desist Order | *ORDER WITHDRAWN |
| Sigil Platform* | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration *(RESOLVED per regulator) |
| Social Membership Network Holding LLC | Texas State Securities Board | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Springcryptoinvest a/k/a Springcryptoinvest.com Ltd. | New Jersey Bureau of Securities, Office of the New Jersey Attorney General | Summary Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Omissions of Material Facts in Connection With The Offer Of Securities |
| Sybrelabs Ltd. (aka CryptoARB) | Colorado Securities Commision | Cease & Desist Order | Solicitation of Unregistered Securities |
| Symatri LLC | Texas State Securities Board | Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Taklimakan Network | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration |
| ThinkCoin* | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration *(RESOLVED per regulator) |
| Trident d/b/a Trident Crypto Index Fund | New Jersey Bureau of Securities, Office of the New Jersey Attorney General | Summary Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; Omissions of Material Facts in Connection With The Offer Of Securities |
|
Tripbit* |
British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration *(RESOLVED per regulator) |
| Ubcoin* | British Columbia Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Letter | Potentially offering or promoting securities without registration *(RESOLVED per regulator) |
| Ultimate Assets LLC | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration Violations; Fraud and Misleading/Deceptive Statements |
| Union Bank Payment Coin | North Dakota Securities Department | Cease & Desist Order | Promoting unregistered securities |
| USI-Tech | Ohio Department of Commerce – Division of Securities | Administrative Cease & Desist (Notice Order) | Registration violations; Omissions of Material Facts in Connection With The Offer Of Securities; False Representation of a Material or Relevant Fact |
| Wind Wide Coin Inc. AKA WWC Inc., Charles Roman, Fred Andrew and John Anny | Texas State Securities Board | Emergency Cease & Desist Order | Registration violations; Fraud in connection with the offer of investments in the cryptocurrency mining program; misleading and deceptive statements |
| Zanfau Ltd. | Alabama Securities Commission | Cease & Desist Order | Offer and Sale of Unregistered Securities; Omission of Material Facts |
| ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES | AGENCY | ACTIVITY | |
| Binance Limited | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| BIOK | Nova Scotia Securities Commission | Investor Alert | |
| bitFlyer USA, Inc. | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Bitstamp USA Inc. | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Bittrex, Inc. | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Circle Internet Financial Limited (Poloniex LLC) | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Coinbase, Inc. | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Elite Way Developments LLP | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Gate Technology Incorporated | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Gemini Trust Company | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Huobi Global Limited | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| iFinex Inc. (Bitfinex) | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| itBit Trust Company | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter | |
| Orca Alliance | Nova Scotia Securities Commission | Investor Alert | |
| Payward, Inc. (Kraken) | The Investor Protection Bureau of the Office of the New York State Attorney General | Information Demand Letter |
