The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has settled with founders of crypto exchange Bitqyck over an alleged $13 million fraud. Bitqyck’s founders Bruce Bise and Sam Mendez will pay a civil penalty of $8.5 million on top of disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
The SEC charged Dallas company Bitqyck and its founders with defrauding over 13 million investors in operating unregistered digital asset exchange and unauthorized offering. More specifically, Bitqyck offered their own token Bitqy, and falsely claimed that each Bitqy provided fractional shares of Bitqyck stock through a “smart contract.” They also offered BitqyM tokens, which allegedly provided an interest in a Bitqyck cryptocurrency mining facility powered by below-market rate electricity
Thus, the exchange and its founders fraudulently raised millions of dollars.