NYAG Now Goes After Crypto Lenders, Nexo Says It Doesn’t Offer Services In New York Anyway

After settling charges with Tether and Bitfinex for $18.5 million, the New York State Attorney General has now asked two cryptocurrency lending platforms to cease activities in New York. Three other platforms have also been directed to provide information about their business.

In a redacted letter, Letitia James said the Office of the Attorney General “was in possession of evidence of unlawfully selling or offering for sale securities and/or commodities.”

Crypto lending platforms that are interest-bearing accounts offering investors a rate of return on crypto deposits are required to register with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) if they are operating within the state or offering their products to New Yorkers said James on Monday. She added,

“Cryptocurrency platforms must follow the law, just like everyone else.”

The two companies are reportedly Celcisus and Nexo. Celsius Network is already targeted by Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, and New Jersey regulators for its interest-bearing accounts, which the local regulators allege violate local securities laws.

This month, the company with over 1 million registered users and $25 billion in assets under management raised $400 million from equity firm WestCap and Canada’s second-largest pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, at a valuation of $3 billion.

Nexo Finance took to Twitter to clarify that it already restricts access to its Nexo Exchange Service and Nexo Earn Interest Product to the citizens or residents of the States of New York, Texas, Kentucky, New Jersey, Alabama, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Washington, as such the letter doesn’t make any sense.

“Nexo is not offering its Earn Product & Exchange in NY so it makes little sense to be receiving a C&D for something we are not offering in NY anyway.” “But we will engage with the NY AG as this is a clear case of mixing up the recipients of the letter. We use IP-based geoblocking.”