United States of America: Issued ruling in SEC investigation into eToro over operation an unregistered broker and unregistered clearing agency in connection with its trading platform

On 12 September 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that trading platform eToro USA LLC has agreed to pay a USD 1.5 million penalty to the SEC to settle charges of operating as an unregistered broker and clearing agency in connection with its crypto asset trading platform. The SEC stated that since at least 2020, eToro allowed US customers to trade crypto assets offered as securities without complying with federal registration requirements. As part of the settlement, eToro will cease trading nearly all crypto assets, limiting US customers to Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Ether. eToro will also provide a 180-day window for customers to sell other crypto assets on its platform. Finally, eToro agreed to liquidate any untransferred crypto assets within 187 days and return the proceeds to customers.