Crypto Esports Startup Unikrn to Pay $6.1M in SEC Settlement Over 2017 ICO

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled unregistered securities offering charges against online gaming and gambling platform Unikrn for conducting an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017.

According to a press release Tuesday, the SEC alleged that between June and October 2017, Unikrn Inc. raised approximately $31 million through the UnikoinGold (UKG) token sale in violation of registration requirements. 

The SEC’s press release said that while the firm promised to use its funds to add more features to the platform and develop additional applications, it failed to register the sale of said tokens, which the SEC alleges were offered as investment contracts.

The statement adds that Unikrn has agreed to settle the charges, without admitting or denying them, by paying a $6.1 million penalty to be distributed among investors. The SEC said the $6.1 million accounts for “substantially all of the company’s assets.”

“This resolution allows us to return substantially all of Unikrn’s assets to already-harmed investors and includes measures to prevent future sales to retail investors,” Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit, said in a statement. 

In a statement shared with CoinDesk, Unikrn CEO Rahul Sood said his firm “spent months working with the SEC to come to a solution that was about moving the business forward,” adding:

Unikrn’s statement in response to the SEC’s charges added the firm will continue to offer its services supported by major currencies, including fiat currencies, bitcoin (BTC), bitcoin cash (BCH), ether (ETH) and USDC, among others. 

In a related matter, the SEC said Seattle-based Unikrn has settled charges brought by the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions for violating state regulations on such offerings.