The Commission found that Bitfinex continued to offer, execute, and receive funds for illegal off-exchange financial retail commodity transactions between March 1, 2016, and December 31, 2018.
According to the CFTC, Bitfinex offered to settle without admitting or denying its allegations. In addition to agreeing to pay the $1.5 civil monetary penalty, the cryptocurrency trading platform agreed to stop violating Sections 4(a) and 4d(a)(1) of the Act, 7 U.S.C. §§ 6(a), 6d(a)(1) (2018).
It also agreed to implement and maintain systems and procedures to prevent U.S. persons that are not eligible contract participants (ECPs) from engaging in retail commodity transactions.
This is the third regulatory action against Bitfinex. In February, the cryptocurrency platform together with Tether agreed to pay $18.5 million in penalties to settle the allegations of the New York Attorney General’s Office.
Attorney General Letitia James alleged that the cryptocurrency platform and the stablecoin issuer allegedly “recklessly and unlawfully covered up massive financial losses.”
