SEC charges Abra for offering unregistered crypto securities

• SEC has charged Abra with securities violations related to the crypto platform’s Abra Earn program.
• The regulator previously charged Genesis and Gemini crypto exchange over securities violations related to Gemini Earn.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged crypto platform Abra with the offer and sale of unregistered securities.

SEC’s charges filed against Plutus Lending LLC allege that Abra’s retail crypto lending product Abra Earn was offered to US investors. The platform began offering the product in July 2020 and at its peak had nearly $500 million of its $600 million in assets from investors in the US.

SEC alleges Abra operated as unregistered investment compny

According to the SEC, Abra marketed its Earn product promising interest to investors and that the platform used investor funds on various income-generating activities. The effort also helped the company fund interest payments.

The SEC alleges therefore that Abra offered the Earn program as a security, violating the law by operating as an unregistered investment company for two years. Per SEC’s complaint, Abra initiated a halt of its Earn program in the US in June 2023.

“To settle the Commission’s charges, Abra, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, has consented to an injunction prohibiting it from violating the registration provisions of the Securities Act and the Investment Company Act and requiring it to pay civil penalties in amounts to be determined by the court,” the SEC said in a press release.

Abra recently settled with 25 US states for operating in those jurisdictions with licenses. Notably also, the charges relating to Abra Earn are similar to those filed against Genesis and Gemini over the Gemini Earn program in January 2023. Genesis settled with the SEC earlier this year.

Meanwhile, news of SEC’s charges against Abra also come just days after a US judge ruled that the regulator’s lawsuit against Kraken can proceed. The SEC has cases against Binance, Coinbase and Consensys.