South Carolina Ends Cease & Desist Orders Against Crypto Startups

South Carolina's securities regulator has ended cease-and-desist orders against two blockchain startups, public documents revealed Thursday.

The South Carolina Attorney General's office, which oversees securities regulation in the state, published two orders explaining that a cease-and-desist filed against blockchain startup ShipChain in May was vacated, and another complaint filed against mining firm Genesis Mining in March removed the company as a respondent. The moves mark the first time such orders were dropped against blockchain startups in the state.

The regulator had claimed that ShipChain's tokens and Genesis Mining's mining contracts were both unregistered securities. ShipChain pushed back against this claim in May, saying in a statement that the firm did "not believe [its] tokens are securities." Furthermore, ShipChain claimed it was unaware South Carolina residents could purchase its SHIP tokens.

On Thursday, deputy securities commissioner Tracy Meyers wrote "the Securities Division of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of South Carolina, after receiving information regarding matters detailed in the Administrative Order to Cease and Desist issued ... upon due consideration of such information, finds good cause has been shown to vacate the [order]," referring to ShipChain.

Similarly, Genesis Mining was dismissed from a its own cease and desist order. Swiss Gold Global, which was charged with acting as an unregistered broker-dealer for Genesis Mining at the same time, was not dismissed from the order.

Shipping containers image via Shutterstock