Last year, one of the notable stablecoins was TUSD, which received significant backing from Binance. During that time, rumors emerged about the use of TUSD in speculative transactions. Now, the SEC alleges that this project defrauded its investors.
TUSD Case
The SEC claims that nearly all of TUSD’s reserves were invested in speculative offshore funds, deceiving investors. A complaint has also been filed against TrueCoin LLC and TrustToken Inc due to the fraudulent and unregistered sale of investment contracts involving TrueUSD (TUSD). According to the lawsuit filed by the SEC in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the developer and operator of TrueFi issued unregistered securities.
The complaint further states that TrueCoin and TrustToken misled investors by claiming that TUSD was fully backed by U.S. dollars or equivalents. The SEC’s allegations indicate that reserve assets were funneled into speculative funds. The most critical part is as follows:
“The complaint indicates that until about March 2022, after TUSD operations were sold to an offshore entity, this entity and TrueCoin invested more than half a billion dollars into speculative funds, and by the Fall of 2022, TrueCoin and TrustToken became aware of redemption issues in the offshore fund, yet continued to falsely declare to investors that reserves were supported on a 1:1 basis.”
TrueCoin and TrustToken agreed to pay a fine of $340,930 to have the case dismissed. Given these details, the reputation of TUSD is tarnished, and investors face the risk of peg disruptions, necessitating caution.
