SALT Lending Reaches Settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
September 30, 2020 (DENVER) — Salt Blockchain Inc. f/k/a Salt Lending Holdings, Inc. (“Salt” or the “Company”), a company that provides crypto-backed loans and is expanding its product offerings to include wealth management services, today announced it has reached a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) related to Salt’s offer and sale of SALT Tokens in its “membership token sale” or “initial coin offering” (“ICO”), in which the Company offered and sold digital tokens (“SALT Tokens”) starting in 2017 through 2019. The SEC has simultaneously granted Salt an important waiver that will among other things allow the Company to participate in future capital raising activities under Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”).
Salt has cooperated with the SEC and has been working toward a settlement for many months. Throughout that time, Salt has continued to grow and has proven the viability of the lending business and technology described to investors in connection with the ICO. Now that the Company and the SEC have reached a settlement, Salt plans to expand its product offerings to include products focused on asset management and the preservation of wealth. “As part of Salt’s current leadership team, I can speak to the fact that this experience has certainly been a humbling one. While it has forced us to hit pause on a number of initiatives and product releases, it has also given us time to think about how we want to evolve the business,” said CEO of Salt Justin English. “I’m excited about Salt’s future and am grateful for the opportunity to pursue our vision of building products and services that will help our customers build and preserve their wealth.”
Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, the Company consented to the entry of an administrative order that requires it, among other things, to cease and desist from future violations of the offering and registration provisions of the federal securities laws (the “SEC Settlement”). Under the terms of the SEC Settlement, the Company will register SALT Tokens under Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as a class of securities, maintain that registration and make timely filings as required by law and the SEC Settlement, and pay a civil monetary penalty of $250,000.
In addition, under the terms of the SEC Settlement, the Company will administer a claims procedure available to those who purchased SALT Tokens directly from the Company before and including December 31, 2019. Pursuant to that claims procedure, purchasers of SALT Tokens from the Company before and including December 31, 2019 who elect to participate and timely submit a complete Claim Form and required supporting documentation will be permitted to provide their SALT Tokens to the Company in exchange for payment of the amount due under Section 12(a) of the Securities Act (consideration paid with interest thereon, less the amount of any income received or damages if the person no longer owns the security). The Company will distribute a Claim Form to purchasers in accordance with the terms of the SEC Settlement. As required by the SEC Settlement, the Company will submit a monthly report to the SEC of the claims received and the claims paid under its voluntary claims procedure as described in paragraph 17 of the Undertakings in the SEC Order. The SEC Order is available at https://www.sec.gov/enforce/33-10865-s.
Media Contact
[email protected]