Crypto Proxies Plunge After SEC Halts $CRCW

The Crypto company ran from $3 to $600+ this year, prompting me to delve into the company, revealing some things that raised an eyebrow. Immediately following my blog, which has since been taken down, I got a letter from an attorney representing the company demanding a cease and desist for defaming his client. Since it was published on both iBC and Zerohedge, both sites received this letter.

Since I had no skin in the game and didn’t really give a shit about CRCW one way or another, I took down the posts and went on with my life trading crypto proxy stocks just like CRCW.

This morning the SEC halted its shares until January 3rd, citing chicanery.

Via SEC:

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“Commission”) announced the temporary suspension, pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”), of trading in the securities of The Crypto Company (“CRCW”), of Malibu, California at 9:30 a.m. EST on December 19, 2017, and terminating at 11:59 p.m. EST on January 3, 2018.

The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of The Crypto Company because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of information in the marketplace about, among other things, the compensation paid for promotion of the company, and statements in Commission filings about the plans of the company’s insiders to sell their shares of The Crypto Company’s common stock. Questions have also arisen concerning potentially manipulative transactions in the company’s stock in November 2017. This order was entered pursuant to Section 12(k) of the Exchange Act.

The Commission cautions broker-dealers, shareholders, and prospective purchasers that they should carefully consider the foregoing information along with all other currently available information and any information subsequently issued by the company.

Further, brokers and dealers should be alert to the fact that, pursuant to Rule 15c2-11 under the Exchange Act, at the termination of the trading suspension, no quotation may be entered unless and until they have strictly complied with all of the provisions of the rule. If any broker or dealer has any questions as to whether or not he has complied with the rule, he should not enter any quotation but immediately contact the staff in the Division of Trading and Markets, Office of Interpretation and Guidance, at (202) 551-5777. If any broker or dealer is uncertain as to what is required by Rule 15c2-11, he should refrain from entering quotations relating to The Crypto Company’s securities until such time as he has familiarized himself with the rule and is certain that all of its provisions have been met.

If any broker or dealer enters any quotation which is in violation of the rule, the Commission will consider the need for prompt enforcement action. If any broker-dealer or other person has any information which may relate to this matter, contact Katharine Zoladz, Assistant Regional Director, Los Angeles Regional Office, at (323) 965-3998 or Roberto A. Tercero, Senior Counsel, Los Angeles Regional Office, at (323) 965-3891. The Commission appreciates the assistance of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and OTC Markets Group, Inc.

Perhaps they’ll have their attorneys write the SEC a nice little letter now, demanding that they unhalt the stock and permit CRCW trade into the tens of billions in market cap?

Current market cap is $10.6 billion, run by a gent with 10 disclosures on his U4. I’ll leave it there.

Other stocks in the space are getting hit too, all for different reasons. With elevated share prices comes secondaries and other forms of capital raises, something I was afraid of, which is one of the reasons why I sold several of my proxies yesterday.

Here is some of the carnage.

DSS -23%
LFIN -11%
PYDS -8.6%
DPW -8%
XNET -7%
MARA -6%
SIEB -6%
SRAX -5%

On the plus side is MGTI +6%, NXTD +23%, RIOT +12%, OTIV +11%, TEUM +8% and CLNT +6%.