Jean Eaglesham and Paul Vigna
The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued dozens of subpoenas and information requests to technology companies and advisers involved in the red-hot market for cryptocurrencies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The sweeping probe significantly ratchets up the regulatory pressure on the multibillion-dollar U.S. market for raising funds in cryptocurrencies. It follows a series of warning shots from the top U.S. securities regulator suggesting that many token sales, or initial coin offerings, may be violating securities laws.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment.
U.S. regulators have repeatedly put cryptocurrency companies and their advisers on notice in recent months about what officials say are widespread violations of securities rules designed to protect investors.
“Many promoters of ICOs and cryptocurrencies are not complying with our securities laws,” SEC chairman Jay Clayton said earlier this year. In another speech he said he has instructed his staff to be “on high alert for approaches to ICOs that may be contrary to the spirit” of those laws.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-launches-cryptocurrency-probe-1519856266?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=1
