The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is looking into team members of the decentralized finance (DeFi) platform BarnBridge in the most recent regulatory dispute a crypto startup in the nation has encountered. With BarnBridge’s interest rate swaps, any variable yield provided by cryptocurrency platforms like Aave or Compound may be changed to a fixed rate. As of Friday, it had just over $1.2 million in locked tokens. The protocol held $500 million in user assets at its height.
“I am letting you know that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Barnbridge DAO and individuals associated with the DAO,” wrote Douglas Park, duly elected legal counsel to Barnbridge DAO, in a Discord message on Friday morning.
Following the comment Park wrote on Discord, BarnBridge’s BOND tokens fell more than 10%. There has not been a public disclosure of additional inquiry details. Park continued, “I am limited in the information that I will share publicly because the SEC’s investigation is ongoing and non-public.”
Given the SEC’s actions, according to Park, any work on BarnBridge-related products should be discontinued and any existing liquidity pools should be liquidated. He continued that those who submit their work won’t receive payment.