Rainberry to Pay $10M in SEC Settlement; Claims Against Justin Sun Dismissed

Rainberry Inc., the cryptocurrency firm formerly known as BitTorrent, agreed to pay a $10 million civil penalty to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations over market manipulation and unregistered securities offerings, according to court documents made public on March 5. As part of the settlement, the SEC dismissed with prejudice all personal claims against Justin Sun, founder of the Tron blockchain, as well as the Tron Foundation and BitTorrent Foundation, ending a legal dispute that began in March 2023. The original complaint had accused Sun and his companies of selling unregistered Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) crypto asset securities and directing employees to conduct more than 600,000 wash trades to inflate trading activity and demand, though the settlement includes no admission or denial of the allegations. Rainberry is now subject to a permanent injunction barring future violations of antifraud and registration provisions of U.S. federal securities laws, with final judgment requiring approval from U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos.