The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a non-profit watchdog for public brokerage firms in the U.S., has had its first run-in with the cryptocurrency industry. The self-regulatory organization is filing a complaint against a Massachusetts man for “the unlawful distribution of an unregistered cryptocurrency security called HempCoin.”Timothy Tilton Ayre, FINRA alleges, illegally associated sales in his publicly traded company, Rocky Mountain Ayre Inc. (RMTN), with the marijuana industry token. Allegedly purchasing the rights to HempCoin in June of 2015, Ayre rebranded the coin as an RMNT-backed security, FINRA’s complaint states. According to FINRA, Ayre attempted to market his “worthless” company and sell shares through HempCoin by advertising the cryptocurrency as “the first minable coin backed by marketable securities.” Heralding HempCoin as “the world’s first currency to represent equity ownership” in a public company, Ayre reportedly guaranteed that each token represented 0.10 shares in RMTN. Since Ayre never registered HempCoin with the SEC, FINRA is charging him with “unlawful distribution of an unregistered security.” Moreover, the self-regulatory body accuses Ayre of defrauding investors “by making materially false statements and omissions regarding the nature of RMTN’s business, failing to disclose his creation and unlawful distribution of HempCoin, and making multiple false and mi...
