Unikrn Gold is no more. After facing charges from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for running its initial coin offering (ICO) for its Unikrn Gold cryptocurrency back in 2017 without going through the proper legal channels, Unikrn has agreed to disable one of its most noteworthy assets.
The SEC accused Unikrn of running its Unikrn Gold starter offer illegally, based on a statement issued on Tuesday by the regulatory body. They claim that by offering this way, Unikrn offered an ‘unregistered investment opportunity’ to people.
Moved Quickly
Of course, Unikrn could have contested these allegations and had they done so they would likely have become embroiled in a potentially lengthy and certainly very expensive legal dispute and as such, the company has moved quickly to reach an agreement to settle the charges with the SEC.
In a statement issued by the SEC it stated that:
“Unikrn agreed to settle the charges by paying a $6.1 million penalty, substantially all of the company’s assets, to be distributed to investors through a Fair Fund.”
“Unikrn also agreed to disable the UKG (Unikrn Gold) from all digital asset trading platforms.”
The crux of the SEC’s complaint is that UKG initial coin offering was framed in a way as to make it appear as a profit opportunity for investors. This means that it would have required licensing to make the offer, which UKG did not have.
The original offer saw around $28.6 million in investment capital raised by the ICO for Unikrn Gold, but the SEC alleges that it raised a higher amount, they estimate around $31 between June and October 2017.
“The SEC’s order finds that Unikrn violated the registration provisions of the federal securities laws,” concluded the statement.
Unikrn Statement
Following the announcement, Unikrn moved quickly to comment on the issue on its website paraphrasing the words of SEC Commissioner Hester M. Peirce who stated “While many SEC enforcement actions in this space include allegations of fraud, Unikrn falls within the narrower category of token issuers charged only with violating Section 5 of the Securities Act. In other words, Unikrn is alleged to have offered and sold its tokens in an unregistered offering and in a manner that did not qualify for an exemption, it is not alleged to have engaged in any fraud in doing so.”
However, the decision regarding Unikrn’s legality was not a consensus. Mr Peirce also stated “I do not concur in my colleague’s opinion that Unikrn’s token offering constituted a securities offering. I respectfully dissent from the Commissions actions today relating to Unikrn.”
The company said it did consider contesting the claim but that doing so “would be more damaging to Unikrn’s long-term goals than this Order of Settlement,” but the company also stated that:
“This agreement between Unikrn and the SEC is not, in our view, the result of any wrongdoing on Unikrn’s part, but instead the result of a lack of regulatory precedent and safe harbor.”
As per the agreement, UnikrnGold and UnikrnSilver will be retired in September 2020 but the company already has plans to launch a replacement rewards program later this year.
What happens if you had UKG?
If you had UKG with Unikrn then depending on how you deposited to receive your UKG, Unikrn will have done one of the following:
- If you used another Cryptocurrency to purchase UKG, your UKG balance will be converted back to the Cryptocurrency equivalent value in fiat.
- If you had a betting eligible account and had received platform-locked UKG bonuses, these bonuses have been converted into bonus bet tokens of an equivalent value.
- If you have a gaming or holding wallet that holds UKG, the currency will still be there but you should withdraw it to a private wallet immediately and wait for guidance from the SEC regarding your refund.
- Any UKG earned from Unikrn Connekt but beyond its use date, then these expired as per standard.
- Platform locked UKG in accounts ineligible for betting have also expired.
Featured Image Credits: Jarretera / Shutterstock.com
