The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today that Barnbridge DAO, a purported decentralized autonomous organization, and its two founders, Tyler Ward and Troy Murray, will pay more than $1.7 million to settle allegations that unregistered Barnbridge issued and sold a structured cryptoasset called Smart Yield bonds.
The Commission also alleged that the defendant had breached Barnbridge's rules relating to the operation of the Smart Yield pool by making it an unregistered investment company.
To settle the SEC's allegations, Barnbridge agreed to return nearly $1.5 million in sales proceeds, while Ward and Murray each agreed to pay $12$50,000 civil penalty.
Pursuant to the SEC's order, the defendant compared the SMART YIELD bonds to asset-backed** and publicized them widely to the public. Investors can purchase "Senior" or "Junior" Smart Yield bonds through Barnbridge's ** app. Smart Yield pays investors by pooling crypto assets deposited by investors and using those assets to generate fixed or variable returns.
Barnbridge***, issued by Ward, claims that the Smart Yield bonds will "reflect the safety and security of high-rated debt instruments offered by traditional finance" through its smart contract protocol....while still providing excess returns".
According to the order, Smart Yield attracted more than 5$0.9 billion, and Barnbridge charges investors a fee based on the size of their investment and the return method they choose.
Without acknowledging or denying the SEC's findings, Barnbridge, Ward and Murray agreed to cease and desist from breaching and causing to contravene the registration requirements of the Act 1933 and the Investment Company Act 1940. The SEC's order relates to remedial actions initiated by Ward and Murray.
Warm reminder: Before doing foreign exchange trading, you must review the qualifications of the foreign exchange platform and the information on the official website to prevent being deceived.