The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed charges against The Hydrogen Technology Corporation, its former CEO, Michael Ross Kane, and Tyler Ostern, the CEO of Moonwalkers Trading Limited, a market-making company. The charges filed were for their participation in conducting the unlicensed offers and sales of cryptocurrency asset securities named “Hydro” and for committing a conspiracy to influence the trading volume and value of those securities, which generated more than $2 million for them. According to the lawsuit by SEC, Kane and Hydrogen, financial technology business with headquarters in New York, established the Hydro token in January 2018 and publicly disseminated it via diverse methods. Kane and Hydrogen Hired Moonwalkers The complaint also claims that after delivering the token in different ways, Kane and Hydrogen contracted with Moonwalkers, a company located in South Africa, in October 2018. The negotiation with Moonwalkers was to employ its specialized trading software or bot to establish the false appearance of active market activity for Hydro, which was then sold into the overinflated market on Hydrogen’s behalf for revenue. Due to the defendant’s alleged actions, Hydrogen reportedly made more than $2 million in profits. Carolyn M. Welshhans, Associate Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, stated that companies could not circumvent the federal securities laws by framing unauthorized offers and trad...
