The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ( CFTC) is in hot water with a corporation headquartered in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for allegedly encouraging U.S. institutional investors to participate in leveraged trading of cryptocurrencies and precious metals.
- The company, Laino Group Limited (trading as PaxForex), is accused of illegally conducting retail commodity transactions and not having registered as a merchant of the futures commission (FCM).
- PaxForex is said to have illegally traded bitcoin, ether, litecoin, gold, and silver from around 2018 onwards without executing transactions through a licensed contract market, in breach of the Commodity Exchange Act.
- It is further alleged to have operated as an FCM, without being licensed as such with the CFTC, with employees and agents demanding and taking orders for retail product transactions.
- Director of CFTC Enforcement, James McDonald said that this action demonstrates the CFTC’s continued commitment to ensuring that transactions involving digital assets are registered with the CFTC.
- The commission seeks “ill-gotten gains,” fines and restitution, as well as permanent registration and trade restrictions to be disgorged.
- On Monday, the U.S. filed a civil compliance suit. The Circuit Court for the Texas Southern District.
