On June 15, 2023 , the New York Office of Attorney General (NYOAG) announced a Stipulation and Consent Order providing for “restitution” amounting to $1,172,971.50 from Vino Global Limited d/b/a CoinEx (CoinEx) and $626,133.88 in penalties to the state because CoinEx allegedly “unlawfully represented itself as an exchange” in violation of New York’s Martin Act. The underlying lawsuit against CoinEx was filed by the NYOAG in February . In response to this lawsuit, the Hong Kong-based CoinEx immediately in
In her press release , the NYAG states: “Unregistered crypto platforms pose a risk to investors, consumers, and the broader economy.” Of note, no specific NY investor is referenced as being a victim of CoinEx’s activities in New York state. Rather, a NYOAG investigator created “an account with CoinEx using a computer with a New York-based IP address to buy and sell digital tokens although CoinEx was not registered with the state.” Moreover, the “restitution” obtained by the NYOAG simply required that ea
In other words, the customers of CoinEx got back what was in their accounts and not any monies lost when using the exchange services of CoinEx. Indeed, CoinEx was already voluntarily refunding and closing out U.S. accounts months earlier. CoinEx was also required to cease and desist from servicing New York customers and was required to implement geoblocking to prevent New York IP addresses from accessing their platform – something CoinEx was already planning on doing for all potential U.S. customers.