SEC charges Abra for offering unregistered crypto securities - CoinJournal

SEC has charged Abra with securities violations related to the crypto platform’s Abra Earn program. The regulator previously charged Genesis and Gemini crypto exchange over securities violations related to Gemini Earn.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged crypto platform Abra with the offer and sale of unregistered securities. SEC’s charges filed against Plutus Lending LLC allege that Abra’s retail crypto lending product Abra Earn was offered to US investors. The platform began offering the product in July 2020 and at its peak had nearly $500 million of its $600 million in assets from investors in the US. SEC alleges Abra operated as unregistered investment compny According to the SEC, Abra marketed its Earn product promising interest to investors and that the platform used investor funds on various income-generating activities. The effort also helped the company fund interest payments. The SEC alleges therefore that Abra offered the Earn program as a security, violating the law by operating as an unregistered investment company for two years. Per SEC’s complaint, Abra initiated a halt of its Earn program in the US in June 2023. “To settle the Commission’s charges, Abra, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, has consented to an injunction prohibiting it from violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act and the Investment Company Act and requiring it to pay civil penalties in amounts to be determined by the court,” the SEC said in a press release. Abra recently settled with 25 US states for operating in those jurisdictions with licenses. Notably also, the charges relating to Abra Earn are similar to those filed against Genesis and Gemini over the Gemini Earn program in January 2023. Genesis settled with the SEC earlier this year. Meanwhile, news of SEC’s charges against Abra also come just days after a US judge ruled that the regulator’s lawsuit against Kraken can proceed. The SEC has cases against Binance, Coinbase and Consensys.

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Tortola, British Virgin Islands, August 26th, 2024, Chainwire Warden, the sovereign AI execution network, announced the alpha release of its new artificial intelligence product – the Artificial Intelligence Blockchain Interface (AIBI). AIBI brings AI on-chain with an intuitive interface for developers to integrate AI into their applications. Inspired by proof-of-computation and computational pipelines, AIBI allows inference endpoints to create cryptographic proofs that verify that an AI model produced a specific prediction. These proofs are then verified on Wardens’ blockchain through a cutting-edge consensus mechanism, ensuring AI outputs are not just delivered, but can be trusted. “AIBI is here to bring truth to AI”, said David Pinger, founder and CEO of Warden Labs. “Broken AI infrastructure had disastrous consequences – factually incorrect, unsafe, opaque and at times outright dangerous recommendations. Trust in AI collapsed at a time when it’s becoming deeper and deeper embedded into our daily lives. AIBI provides the infrastructure to stop this.” “We no longer want to rely on AI “hallucinations”, and with ongoing advancements in AIBI we will put an end to them.” Thanks to the work done by Wardens’ AI team, led by Dr. Michele Dallachiesa, AIBI is poised to become the standard for AI accuracy, explainability and privacy across both web3 and web2—and everything in-between. AIBI introduces a future where every AI decision is backed by cryptographic proof, ensuring that AI-generated predictions are not only accurate but also explainable and secure. AIBI enables a new class of AI applications. To kickstart this new era, Warden is organizing a series of hackathons throughout Q4 2024, designed to inspire and reward developers who create groundbreaking AI-driven experiences using AIBI. Whether it’s dynamic pricing algorithms, sophisticated matching engines, or personalized recommendation systems, the potential applications are limitless. “Blockchain infrastructure is the best contender to make AI open”, said Antonio Pitasi, founder and CTO of Warden Labs. “We provide truly open AI infrastructure that allows any protocol, application or platform to use AI in a secure way”.” About Warden Labs Since its inception in March 2024, Warden has experienced exponential growth, now processing over one million transactions per month. Warden’s sovereign AI execution engine connects to more than 100 blockchains, enabling any smart contract, protocol, or platform to leverage AI predictions. Warden is set to pioneer a new category of applications at the intersection of AI and web3, while also extending its services to web2 AI use cases. For more information, users and builders can visit wardenprotocol.org, or can follow on X at @wardenprotocol.   Contact PR Andrei S. Warden Labs Ltd [email protected]

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