WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday halted registration for two digital tokens offered by Wyoming-based American Cryptofed DAO LLC, accusing the company of providing misleading information to investors in regulatory filings.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in a statement that American Cryptofed “filed a materially deficient and misleading” form when it sought to register the tokens, known as “Ducat” and “Locke,” as equity securities. The disclosures did not contain required information about both the tokens and the company, and contained materially misleading statements, the SEC said.
The SEC alleged the company’s form left out the required information about the company’s business, management and financial condition, among other omissions, and also gave inconsistent statements about whether the tokens are securities.
American Cryptofed, which describes itself on its website as “the first Wyoming decentralized autonomous organization,” did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
The SEC and other regulators have increasingly been cracking down on the cryptocurrency industry under Democratic leadership.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said the agency is examining cryptocurrencies in a number of areas and has described the crypto world as a “Wild West” riddled with fraud and investor risk.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice and Susan Heavey, Editing by Chris Gallagher and Chris Reese)
