The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has charged the crypto asset trading platform beaxy.com (the Beaxy Platform) and its executives for failing to register as a national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

The SEC also charged the founder of the platform, Artak Hamazaspyan, and a company he controlled, Beaxy Digital, Ltd., with raising $8 million in an unregistered offering of the Beaxy token (BXY) and alleged that Hamazaspyan misappropriated at least $900,000 for personal use, including gambling. Finally, the SEC charged market makers operating on the Beaxy Platform as unregistered dealers.

According to the SEC's complaint, Nicholas Murphy and Randolph Bay Abbott, through their company Windy Inc., provided and maintained the Beaxy Platform as a web-based trading platform for buying and selling crypto assets that were offered and sold as securities since October 2019. The SEC's complaint alleges that Windy violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 through the operation of the Beaxy Platform.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler stated in the announcement:

“We allege that Beaxy and its affiliates performed the functions of an exchange, broker, clearing agency, and dealer without registering with the Commission and complying with clear, time-tested rules governing those activities. Our securities laws for decades have served to protect investors, make capital formation easier and cheaper, and improve our markets. This case serves as yet another reminder to crypto intermediaries that their business models must comply and adapt to the law, not the other way around.”