Eight states file enforcement action against crypto lending platform Nexo

New York State Attorney General Letitia James speaks at a news conference after former U.S. President Donald Trump’s White House chief strategist Steve Bannon arrived to surrender, in New York, U.S., September 8, 2022.

Eight states announced on Monday that they are bringing actions against the cripto lending platformNexo Group.

State regulators in California, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington and Vermont are accusingNexo of offering customers interest earning accounts without first registration as securities. State regulators say investors can't make informed investment decisions without access to financial statements.

The accounts were misrepresented and investors were told that they are a registered platform. The "Earn Interest Product" allowed investors to deposit assets with the company in exchange for high earning yields.

Many investors have been left without access to their funds as a result of recentCryptocurrencies. After freezing customer funds, Celsius filed for bankruptcy this summer. The company filed for Chapter 11 in the summer. Billions of dollars were wiped out by the collapse of TerraUSD and Three Arrows Capital.

The company had the ability to deploy customer assets according to the terms and conditions.

According to the order filed in Vermont, investors have no part in selecting, monitoring, or reviewing the revenue generating activities that Respondents use to earn this interest.

More than 93,318 U.S. residents have invested more than 800 million dollars in these accounts according to the Vermont order.

The Attorney General of the state of New York filed a lawsuit against the platform.

The New York Attorney General said that currency platforms are just like other investment platforms. Nexo made a false claim that it is a registered platform. It is necessary forNexo to stop its illegal operations and protect its investors.

U.S. investors were prevented from investing in the earn interest product byNexo in February. According to the orders filed, the product cannot be offered to residents until it is registered.

The platform looked to differentiate itself from other platforms that have had financial problems.

The company said that they have been working with US federal and state regulators to fulfill their mandates of investor protection by examining past behavior of providers of earn interest products. The recent months have shown thatNexo is a different provider of earn interest products, as shown by the fact that it did not engage in uncollateralized loans, did not have to be bail out, or need to resort.