SEC Files Complaint Against Bitcoin Mining Companies for Running Alleged Ponzi Scheme

SEC Virtual Currency

On December 1, the SEC announced that it charged two Connecticut-based Bitcoin mining companies and their founder with allegedly running a Ponzi scheme, from approximately August 2014 through December 2014, to defraud investors by purportedly offering shares of a digital Bitcoin mining operation. The companies offered shares in mining profits via investment contracts called “Hashlets,” which entitled the investor to a portion of the profits from the defendants’ calculated “hashing power.” The SEC’s complaint alleges that the “defendants sold far more Hashlets worth of computing power than they actually had in their computer centers,” and that the investors ultimately paid for a share of “hashing power” that did not exist. The SEC further alleged that the defendants misrepresented to investors the potential of their virtual currency mining operations by making false statements about the profitability and life-span of Hashlets and how the payouts for Hashlets were derived, among other things. The defendants earned approximately $19 million in revenue from selling Hashlets to more than 10,000 investors. The SEC’s complaint seeks permanent injunctive relief and the disgorgement of the defendants’ ill-gotten gains, plus pre-judgment interest.