Crypto Asset Trading Platform, Bittrex Inc., and Bittrex Global GmbH have been fined $24 million by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for operating an unlicensed exchange, broker, and clearing agency.

Furthermore, the accusation asserts that Bittrex and William Shihara, who served as the company’s CEO between 2014 and 2019, collaborated with token issuers to eliminate all online communications and traces of investment contracts, with the aim of evading violations of federal securities regulations.

Bittrex and its co-founder, former CEO William Shihara, reached a settlement on August 10, 2023, in which they neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s allegations. The SEC had initially brought charges against the exchange on April 17, 2023.