In a recent update, the SEC has filed a lawsuit against Cumberland DRW for operating as an unregistered securities dealer.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused Cumberland DRW, a Chicago-based trading firm, of operating as an unregistered dealer in cryptocurrency transactions.
The SEC alleges that the firm traded approximately $2 billion worth of cryptocurrencies without the required registration.
Cumberland DRW, which describes itself as a “liquidity provider, risk taker and delay-sensitive trading firm,” faced charges Thursday for its reckless activities, according to a statement from the SEC.
“Despite the industry’s frequent protestations that the sale of crypto assets is akin to the sale of commodities, our complaint alleges that Cumberland, the relevant issuers, and objective investors treated the offer and sale of the crypto assets at issue in this case as investments in securities,” said Jorge G. Tenreiro, chief of the SEC’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit. “Cumberland benefited from the appreciation in these assets without affording investors and the market the important protections afforded by registration.”
Cumberland DRW responded by stating that it has engaged in extensive discussions with the SEC on this issue over the past five years, providing dozens of written briefs and explanations, as well as thousands of pages of materials. It even purchased a registered brokerage firm in 2019 to meet the SEC’s requirements, but was later told that it could only use it to trade BTC or ETH, “commodities” that are not under the SEC’s jurisdiction. Based on this, Cumberland DRW will not make any changes to its trading activities or the assets it provides liquidity for.
*This is not investment advice.
