Salt Lending (SALT) Under SEC Investigation for Potential Unregistered Security Sale
SALT, one of the booming post-ICO digital assets, has fallen to $0.45, and is pressured by news of another SEC investigation on the sector.
Salt (SALT), one of the high-profile crypto projects aiming to build a cryptocurrency-secured lending business, has seen renewed attention from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, reported theWall Street Journal.
A section of the investigation is pointed toward Erik Voorhes, CEO ofShapeShift, who is also involved with the SALT project. Voorhes has an indirect connection to SALT, as he served on its board while the startup raised funds. But an earlier investigation and settlement for Voorhes banned him from participating in raising funds.
The attention of the SEC was also pointed to the SALT token in an attempt to determine whether the asset should have been registered as a security.
The investigation into SALT arrives at a time when almost no element of the crypto ecosystem remains untouched by some form of regulation. ShapeShift, the previously anonymous service, has established account creation and a form of KYC procedure. The SEC also scrutinized ICO projects for selling unregistered securities. Not even decentralized exchanges managed to escape, as regulators went after EtherDelta, and IDEX closed off access for New York State residents unable to comply with the very strict local regulations.
This past Tuesday, a former financial officer at Salt Lending filed a lawsuit against the company which alleges that the company lost significant funds in cryptocurrency. Other allegations include favorable loans to company employees.
SALT market prices fell by 28% just last week following a crash of the entire market. SALT peaked on January 9, 2018, at $13.62, before tumbling to new lows.
SALT, also short for Secured Automated Lending Technology, stopped issuing new loans in February, adding one more factor to the price slide. In subsequent months, the Nexo project took over some of the company’s assets. SALT is an asset available through most of the major exchanges but it remains discredited with the crypto community.