Crypto lender Nexo is closing two of its UK subsidiaries, according to a report from Bloomberg.
The company has applied to close Nexo Financial Services Ltd. and Nexo Clearing and Custody Ltd as part of a restructuring, according to co-founder Antoni Trenchev.
He told Bloomberg that Nexo is rethinking the way it services clients, but that it is not considering a full exit of the UK market.
Nexo is under investigation in Bulgaria for alleged involvement in an organised crime scheme.
Its offices in the country were raided in January, with four people charged over money laundering, unlicensed banking activities, and tax and computer crimes. It has also been accused of violation of sanctions against Russia.
Also in January, it was charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission with failing to register the offer and sale of its retail crypto asset lending product.
To settle the charges, Nexo agreed to pay a $22.5 million penalty and cease its unregistered offer, while also paying an additional $22.5 million in fines to settle similar charges by state regulatory authorities
Polyloop raises £1.3m for public sector impact SaaS platform
Cryptocurrency shorts
The US is “shooting ourselves in the foot by not having a regulatory regime in the US”, says the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Hester Peirce. She told the Financial Times’ crypto and digital assets summit that the approaches of the UK and US “can serve as a model for us”.
Meanwhile the SEC’s lack of clarity over which digital assets are securities under federal law and refusal to engage in a systematic rulemaking process have been criticised by the United States Chamber of Commerce. This issue has “immense implications for every person involved in the $1 trillion digital-asset economy”, a court filing states, slamming its tactic of one-off enforcement actions.
Decentralised wallet infrastructure platform Odsy Foundation has raised $7.5m seed funding, led by Blockchange Ventures, which values the firm at $250m.
Pudgy Penguins, an NFT collection and Web3 IP company, has raised $9m seed funding.
Crypto prices
The overall market cap of the 24,100 coins is at $1.1 trillion at the time of writing (8am UK), a 3.2% decrease in the last 24 hours, with Bitcoin trading around $26,300.
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For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.