In a classic case of “you can run, but you can’t hide,” the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has caught up with crypto exchange Coinme, and boy, did they catch them good. The SEC has slapped Coinme with nearly $4 million in fines for allegedly offering unregistered securities and making “misleading statements” about its UpToken (UP) crypto token.

The news of the fines came out on April 28, and it’s fair to say that Coinme probably wishes it could turn back time and undo whatever it did to get the SEC so riled up. According to the SEC’s charges, Coinme, its subsidiary Up Global SEZC, and CEO Neil Bergquist were all involved in the alleged wrongdoing.

So what did Coinme do to get the SEC’s knickers in such a twist? Well, the SEC says that Coinme offered and sold UpToken without registering the tokens as securities. That’s a big no-no, as securities have to be registered with the SEC before they can be sold to the public.

But that’s not all. The SEC also alleges that Coinme made “misleading statements” about UpToken. Specifically, the SEC says that Coinme claimed that UpToken was not a security and that its value would increase as more people used Coinme’s crypto ATMs to buy and sell cryptocurrencies. However, the SEC says that these statements were misleading because UpToken was, in fact, a security, and its value was not tied to the usage of Coinme’s ATMs.

All in all, it’s not looking good for Coinme. Not only do they have to cough up nearly $4 million in fines, but they also have to cease and desist from violating securities laws in the future. Ouch.

It just goes to show that you can’t mess with the SEC and get away with it. If you’re going to launch a crypto token or any other kind of investment product, you’d better make sure you’re playing by the rules. Otherwise, you might find yourself on the wrong end of a hefty fine and a sternly worded press release.

In the meantime, crypto investors will be watching closely to see what impact, if any, this news has on the price of UpToken and other cryptocurrencies. It’s a volatile market at the best of times, and news like this can cause ripples that spread far and wide.

But one thing’s for sure: crypto is never boring. Whether it’s wild price swings, scams, hacks, or SEC fines, there’s always something happening in the world of digital assets. So buckle up, folks, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.