The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly notified crypto exchange Bittrex of a potential enforcement action.
The SEC alleges that Bittrex was acting as an exchange, broker-dealer, and clearinghouse without registering with the regulator.
In March, SEC’s enforcement division reportedly informed Bittrex about the potential enforcement action—known as a Wells notice.
On March 31, the exchange announced that it would shut down, citing the “current U.S. regulatory and economic environment.
The SEC requires crypto firms like Bittrex to register with the SEC so the regulatory body can help reduce conflicts of interest and make crypto exchanges look more like traditional stock exchanges.
The exchange also allegedly failed to monitor suspicious crypto transactions from persons located in Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, and the Crimea region of Ukraine, allowing them to engage in over $263 million from March 2014 to December 2017.
The SEC also fined Bittrex for failing to have a sufficient anti-money laundering program which reportedly led to the exchange having “significant exposure to illicit finance.”
