United States of America: Issued SEC and NASAA ruling in investigation into Nexo Capital regarding registartion requirement for crypto asset lending

On 19 January 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) jointly announced that they had reached a USD 45 million settlement with Nexo Capital Inc. (Nexo) for offering an unregistered securities product. Earn Interest Product (EIP) was offered by Nexo, and it was marketed as a way to earn interest on crypto assets. EIP was classified by the SEC as a security and therefore requires registration. As a result, Nexo agreed to pay USD 22.5 million to the SEC and commit to not offering the unregistered sale of EIPs. Additionally, Nexo will pay USD 22.5 million to other state regulators. According to the NASAA, Nexo will also pay a fine of USD 424’528.30 to states that participated in the investigation and settlement and stop offering and selling the EIP.