WASHINGTON, D.C. — Unicoin CEO Alex Konanykhin stated he is requested the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee to drag its investigation in opposition to the crypto operation and hasn’t but obtained a response.
Unicoin represented a remaining shot in opposition to the trade from earlier Chair Gary Gensler’s SEC, which knowledgeable the agency in an official discover late final yr that the regulator supposed to accuse it of fraud, misleading practices and dealing with unregistered securities. The investigation was introduced within the remaining days of President Joe Biden’s administration in December, earlier than the SEC’s management was taken over by these chosen by crypto fan President Donald Trump.
The CEO, who has watched a dozen different crypto firms let off the hook of their enforcement actions by the company’s new administration, informed CoinDesk he wrote a March 17 letter to the company’s new Crypto Activity Pressure, asking concerning the investigation.
“I search your steering on one of the best ways to deal with this abuse of energy and convey it to an finish,” Konanykhin wrote within the letter, a replica of which has been reviewed by CoinDesk. He requested the matter be terminated and that the conduct of the enforcement official concerned with the case on the company be reviewed, due to his “willingness to weaponize the SEC’s authority for political functions.”
A spokesperson for the SEC declined to touch upon Unicoin’s standing on Wednesday. A Unicoin spokesperson informed CoinDesk on Tuesday that the corporate “stays within the remaining levels of the SEC evaluate course of. As of now, we’ve not obtained any new updates or formal suggestions from the SEC relating to our registration. We’re absolutely dedicated to compliance and transparency, and we proceed to work towards securing the required approvals for our deliberate choices.”
The CEO believes his firm, which suggests buyers can see as much as 8,000% returns, was focused by company harassment final yr, he stated in an interview with CoinDesk in Washington.
“They demanded from us to vow to not go public in the US, to not ICO, to not elevate funds,” he stated. “So I packed my baggage and moved to Europe to renew enterprise.”
He stated the election of Trump and the president’s guarantees to make the U.S. the worldwide crypto capital made him come again to New York from Switzerland, with an intent to go public right here.
“We thought the conflict was over, and we stated to the SEC, ‘Hey, we’re resuming our exercise,” Konanykhin stated. At that time, the company introduced it supposed to focus on the corporate with civil costs.
Konanykhin famous that the regulator had accused them of violating securities legal guidelines with an airdrop. Konanykhin argued that it is a frequent advertising and marketing technique seen in lots of crypto belongings, and is “what the president of the US is doing along with his memecoin.”
“It is embarrassing that the conflict on crypto nonetheless continues,” he stated. If the company continues its conflict on crypto by pursuing Unicoin, “I feel so many observers are going to be astonished.”
Unicoin began as an effort to create a “extra clear and dependable various” to Bitcoin within the U.S. (which, the Unicoin web site stated, has returned 9 million % to buyers during the last 10 years). He stated some analysts imagine bitcoin was “created by Chinese language intelligence, however no person actually is aware of by whom.”
“I am elated by the chance to take part in making American the crypto capital of the planet because the president pledged he needs to do, regardless that it is extremely annoying to nonetheless have the legacy persecution from the SEC,” Konanykhin stated.
In the meantime, he stated, “we’re making ready actively for going public.”
