SEC Fined Unikrn

Seattle-based esports platform Unikrn has agreed to pay a fine of more than $6 mln to settle a dispute with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These are almost all the current assets of the company, which will now be paid out to investors who bought the UnikoinGold cryptocurrency, released in June 2017 as part of the ICO.

The regulator claims that the gambling site raised $31 mln through the sale of securities in the form of UnikoinGold tokens from June to October 2017 without mandatory registration. At the same time, the company promised investors that UnikoinGold would increase in value as Unikrn developed a cryptocurrency-enabled esports betting feature and listed UnikoinGold on crypto exchanges. Such promises to investors imply that UnikoinGold is a value similar to the company's shares, the regulator said.

The SEC believes that Unikrn violated rules that require mandatory registration of an initial public offering. However, Unikrn neither admits nor denies its wrongdoing. In a statement, the company noted that the SEC's guidelines for cryptocurrency launch called «Initial Coin Offering» was released after the company began selling UnikoinGold tokens.

Image courtesy of Esports Observer