the securities and exchange commission sec has charged cryptocurrency trading platform bittrex inc its cofounder and former ceo william shihara and bittrexs foreign affiliate bittrex global gmbh with operating an unregistered national securities exchange broker and clearing agency the sec alleges that bittrex earned at least 13 billion in revenue from transaction fees between 2017 and 2022 while failing to register any of these activities with the sec according to the complaint bittrex has facilitated the buying and selling of crypto assets offered and sold as securities since 2014 also read crypto lender amber group shifts focus towards institutional business may shut down retail operations bittrex and shihara allegedly coordinated with issuers to remove problematic statements from public channels that could have led to regulatory scrutiny these statements included mentions of price predictions expectations of profit and other investmentrelated terms sec chair gary gensler says the action against bittrex highlights the lack of regulatory compliance in the cryptocurrency market bittrex and the issuers it worked with were aware of the rules but sought to evade them he added bittrex prioritized profits over investor protection the sec claims calling it a warning to other noncompliant crypto market intermediaries the secs complaint filed in the us district court for the western district of washington alleges that bittrex and bittrex global should have registered as an exchange as they used a shared order book to match orders for securities bittrex should have also registered as a broker to complete transactions as well as a clearing agency due to its intermediary role in making payments and deliveries as well as maintaining custody of customer assets next bitcoin skyrocketed to 30000 earlier this week heres what experts predict could happen next