Circle Squashes Rumors of Planned SEC Enforcement Actions

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USD coin (USDC) issuer Circle has denied rumors that it received a “Wells notice” on its US dollar-pegged stablecoin.

On Feb. 14, a now-deleted tweet from Fox Business reporter Eleanor Terrett claimed that Circle had been ordered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to stop selling USDC because the stablecoin was an unregistered security.

However, the rumor was quickly dismissed by Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy at Circle Pay on Twitter just 15 minutes after Terrett’s tweet, noting that his company has not received a Wells review. .

A Wells Notice is an official notice sent by the SEC notifying a recipient that it is considering filing a lawsuit against them.

In response to Circle’s denial, Terrett said she “has taken the word of several reliable sources” and apologized for the error.

Dante replied to Terrett that his apology was accepted, adding:

“Alas, there is a lot of churning, turmoil and rumors informing the market right now.”

Terrett’s original tweet has since been deleted. His Twitter account was temporarily deleted but has since returned.

Fears of regulatory action against stablecoin issuers have been running this week after Paxos Trust Company, the issuer of Binance USD (BUSD), confirmed that he had received a Wells notice who alleged that he had not registered the offering under federal securities laws.

Related: Stablecoins not target of BUSD crackdown: Matrixport research lead

Asked earlier this week if Circle had received a similar notice from the SEC regarding USDC, Disparte told Cointelegraph:

“Circle argues that USDC is dollar-regulated digital currency issued as stored value under the United States Money Transmission Act.”

“The facts and circumstances of any type of regulatory action like this are all different, as are the structural and regulatory considerations with each of the cryptocurrencies in circulation around the world,” he added.