The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged LBRY, a New Hampshire-based blockchain company, with conducting an unregistered offering of digital asset securities. According to the SEC's complaint, from at least July 2016 to February 2021, LBRY, which offers a video-sharing application, sold digital asset securities called "LBRY Credits" to numerous investors, including investors based in the United States.
The SEC's complaint, filed in the federal district court in New Hampshire, alleges that LBRY did not file a registration statement for the offering, and that the offering failed to satisfy any exemption from registration.
As alleged, LBRY received more than $11 million in U.S. dollars, bitcoin, and services from purchasers who participated in its offering.
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"The SEC must have had déjà vu when it brought this case, which is reminiscent of the ICO cases the commission brought following the DAO Report in 2017," Nicolas Morgan, partner at the global legal defense firm Paul Hastings in Los Angeles and a former senior trial counsel in the SEC's Enforcement Division, told Treasury & Risk's sister publication ThinkAdvisor Wednesday in an email. "Like those early cases, the SEC's allegations turn on whether the digital asset at issue is or is not a security—there is no allegation of fraud."
Having concluded that the LBC is a security, Morgan continued, "the SEC says the company should have registered its offering. Rather than settling, the company appears to be litigating, which may be a reaction to uncertainty around the legal definition of a security."
The SEC complaint further alleges that by failing to file a registration statement, LBRY denied prospective investors the information required for such an offering to the public.
The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and civil penalties.
From: ThinkAdvisor
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
