Cumberland DRW LLC is facing allegations from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for engaging in unregistered dealer activities.
According to the SEC, Cumberland, a market maker for cryptocurrencies in Chicago, purchased and sold over $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency assets—including those classified as securities—without first registering as required by federal securities laws.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Cumberland has allegedly been engaging in these actions since at least 2018 over the phone and through its trading platform, Marea.Â
According to the SEC, Cumberland advertised itself as a significant liquidity provider and traded various cryptocurrency assets, such as those connected to Polygon, Solana, Cosmos, Algorand, and Filecoin.
The SEC said in its statement that registration is mandatory for all dealers under federal laws, regardless of whether they trade in traditional securities or cryptocurrency assets.Â
SEC vs. Crypto
The SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, has taken a hard stand against the cryptocurrency business, believing it to be full of dishonest and unlawful activities.
Because of his leadership, a number of legal lawsuits against cryptocurrency companies have been brought, claiming that many cryptocurrencies are unregistered securities and, hence, subject to SEC regulation.
SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda attacked the agency’s approach to regulating cryptocurrencies earlier this week.
Crypto.com brought the lawsuit against the SEC in response to a Wells notice that claimed the site was an unregistered broker-dealer and securities clearing firm.
