The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a $24 million settlement with Block.one, the firm behind the EOS cryptocurrency, for conducting an unregistered initial coin offering (ICO). 

In a press release published on September 30^th, the SEC revealed that it has settled charges against Block.one as a civil monetary penalty. Block.one purportedly settled the charges with denying or admitting to the findings. 

The ICO by Block.one comprising of 900 million tokens reportedly “began shortly before the SEC released the DAO Report of Investigation and continued for nearly a year after the report’s publication,” read the press release. 

Block.one had previously raised billions of dollars, but did not register its ICO as a securities offering in agreement with the SEC. “Nor did it qualify for or seek an exemption from the registration requirements,” the SEC stated in the release.

Stephanie Avakian, the co-director of SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said:

“A number of U.S. investors participated in Block.one’s ICO. Companies that offer or sell securities to U.S. investors must comply with the securities laws, irrespective of the industry they operate in or the labels they place on the investment products they offer.”

The co-director of the Division of Enforcement from SEC, Steven Peiken, further added that Block.one failed to provide the ICO investors with the required details, saying:

“The SEC remains committed to bringing enforcement cases when investors are deprived of material information they need to make informed investment decisions.”

The fine worth $24 million will not make a notable dent for Block.one, compared to its initial raise of $4 billion. 

Block.one opens headquarters in Washington DC

Recently, Block.one opened its fourth global site in the D.C. metropolitan region, Washington. The office is expected to generate 170 high-skilled jobs over the next 3 years. 

At the time, Brendan Blumer, the CEO of Block.one, said:

“Its proximity to the nation’s capital positions us close to the policy innovation around digital assets and distributed ledger technology in the U.S. This expansion opens up important new avenues of talent expansions for us at a time when there is rapidly increasing demand for blockchain-based technologies.”