The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) settled on September 27 against Mango Markets’ decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and the Blockworks Foundation.
The watchdog had accused both entities of selling unregistered securities following the $100 million Mango Markets exploit in 2022, putting the platform under heightened scrutiny from regulators.
Under the terms of the settlement, Mango DAO and the Blockworks Foundation agreed to pay a total of $700,000 in civil penalties, destroy their MNGO tokens and ask crypto exchanges to delist the tokens. Furthermore, both entities will stop marketing the tokens in the future.
The settlement does not require either party to admit or deny the SEC’s allegations and is pending court approval. It comes after Mango DAO adopted a community vote in August to settle with the SEC.
In addition, a month later in September, Mango Markets proposed a separate $500,000 settlement with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to end the regulator’s investigation, again without admitting any wrongdoing.
Costs
The SEC’s complaint alleged that Mango DAO and the Blockworks Foundation violated the Securities Act of 1933 by raising more than $70 million through the sale of MNGO governance tokens to investors, including US residents, in August 2021.
Mango Labs was also named in the complaint as an unregistered broker, with the SEC accusing the company of soliciting users for the Mango platform and providing financial advice in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
According to the SEC statement:
“We have maintained that the ‘DAO’ label does not exempt any entity from securities laws.”
The regulator added that the use of automated systems and open source technology does not change the legal responsibilities of those carrying out such projects.
The Mango Markets case highlights ongoing regulatory efforts to bring decentralized platforms under the scope of existing securities laws, as the SEC continues to increase enforcement in the crypto industry.