By Chris Prentice
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fintech investment adviser Titan Global Capital Management USA LLC agreed to pay over $1 million to settle charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it misled investors about performance metrics and custody of clients’ crypto assets.
Titan, a New York-based registered investment adviser, misled investors with statements made on its website about hypothetical returns from August 2021 to October 2022, the SEC said in a statement.
That included touting annualized crypto performance results as high 2,700% without telling investors they were extrapolated from a “purely” hypothetical three-week period during which no trading occurred, the SEC said in a charging document.
Titan did not admit or deny the SEC’s findings. Representatives did not respond immediately to a call for comment.
Regulators also found Titan made conflicting statements to clients about how it handled custody for crypto assets and failed to adopt policies for employees’ personal trading in crypto assets, among other violations, the agency said.
Reuters previously reported the SEC was investigating investment advisers over whether they are meeting rules around custody of client crypto assets.
Titan agreed to pay a $850,000 civil penalty that will be distributed to affected clients and give back ill-gotten gains and interest of over $192,000, the SEC said.
(Reporting by Chris Prentice; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
