Mango DAO Agrees to $700K Settlement with SEC for Unregistered MNGO Token Sale

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Since graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Birmingham in 2018, Joel has worked as a financial market/cryptocurrency analyst. He firmly believes that emerging crypto technology...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday filed settled charges against Solana dApp Mango DAO and Blockworks Foundation over the unregistered offer and sale of $70 million worth of MGNO token tokens, which the agency deems as crypto asset security.

*SEC CHARGES MANGO MARKETS FOR UNREGISTERED MNGO TOKEN SALE

*WITHOUT ADMITTING OR DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS, MANGO MARKETS HAVE AGREED TO SETTLE THE SEC CHARGES AND HAVE AGREED TO DESTROY THEIR MNGO TOKENS

Without admitting or denying the allegations, Mango DAO agreed to pay the SEC $700,000 and destroy their MNGO tokens.

The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) will also ask exchanges to halt the trading of MNGO tokens.

The SEC also charged Mango DAO developer Mango Labs LLC for engaging in unregistered broker activity, charges that were also settled.

As part of a statement, the SEC argued that Mango Market’s DAO status did not change the fact that MNGO tokens should have been registered.

“Our view has been that the label ‘DAO’ does not change… whether their activities need to be registered,” the SEC’s Acting Chief of the Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit said.

Mango DAO is the latest crypto firm/entity to fall fowl of the SEC, which has been crusading to exercise jurisdiction over the industry since 2022 and reign in and industry that it claims is rife with incompliance to securities rules.

In a recent SEC interview on CNBC, SEC Chair Gary Gensler argued that the firm’s dozens of lawsuits against major industry players are intended to create a safe environment for