US SEC indicts Cumberland DRW for acting as unregistered dealer in crypto markets by Reuters

By Hannah Lang

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged crypto market maker Cumberland DRW on Thursday with acting as an unregistered dealer for more than $2 billion in crypto assets, the agency said in a statement .

The SEC said Cumberland had been acting as an unregistered dealer since March 2018, buying and selling crypto assets that the regulator deemed to be securities and trading them as investment contracts on third-party crypto exchanges.

A Cumberland spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Federal securities laws require all dealers in all securities to register with the Commission, and those operating in the cryptoasset markets are no exception,” said Jorge G. Tenreiro, Acting Chief of the Commissions Crypto and Cyber ​​Assets Unit .

The SEC has argued that most cryptocurrency tokens are securities and subject to its registration rules, while many cryptocurrency firms have disputed this and accused the regulator of overreach.

The SEC is locked in legal battles with a number of crypto platforms, including Coinbase, Binance and Kraken, all of which argue that crypto assets – unlike stocks and bonds – do not meet the definition of securities.