Bittrex to pay $24 million to settle with US SEC

NEW YORK: Bittrex has agreed to pay $24 million to settle claims by the US Securities and Exchange Commission that the cryptocurrency exchange failed to register with the agency, according to a filing in Seattle federal court last Thursday.

The SEC sued Bittrex Inc and its former CEO William Shihara in April, saying they operated an unregistered national securities exchange, broker and clearing agency. Bittrex Inc filed for bankruptcy in May.

The deal requires the company and Bittrex Global to pay the $5.6 million fine and hand over $18.4 million in allegedly illicit profit 60 days after a liquidation plan is filed in the bankruptcy case, as per an agency report. SEC Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal said the settlement “makes clear that you cannot escape liability by simply changing labels or altering descriptions as what matters is the economic realities of those offerings.” Shihara called the settlement “a good outcome.”