Nexo confirmed it has relaunched its operations in the United States, three years after withdrawing from the US market following a clash with regulators over its cryptocurrency-backed loan products. The return comes after the company agreed in 2023 to pay a $45 million fine to settle charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for offering a product not registered as a security, and after a period of “recalibration” to meet strict regulatory requirements.
Through a partnership with the US platform Bakkt, Nexo aims to offer cryptocurrency-backed loans and yield-generating products structured on a regulatory compliance basis.
The relaunch of Nexo’s operations in the United States is not just news of expansion, but the culmination of a three-year cycle that exposes the severe limitations imposed by federal regulators. After a forced withdrawal in 2023, the company returns under a “recalibration” scheme that highlights how current regulations compel crypto companies to abandon their disruptive nature in order to survive in the traditional financial ecosystem.
The firm’s return is a direct consequence of a $45 million settlement paid in 2023 to resolve charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nexo was accused of offering its Earned Interest Product (EIP) as an unregistered security, a classification the company never admitted but agreed to finance to avoid further litigation.
This payment was not simply a fine; it was the price of admission to a market that has used the Howey Test as a pressure tactic rather than creating a specific framework for digital assets. Forced to discontinue its original products for US investors, Nexo demonstrates that in the US, innovation is often penalized until it conforms to outdated models.
The impact of “Regulation by Execution”
To understand the magnitude of these limitations, we compare Nexo’s case with other milestones of regulatory pressure in the region:
Company | Sanction / Action | Structural Consequence | Primary Source |
Nexo | $45 Millons | Complete exit from the US and pivot towards partnership with third parties (Bakkt). | |
BlockFi | $100 Millons | Technical insolvency and cessation of performance products. | |
Kraken | $30 Millons | Immediate cessation of staking services in the U.S. |
While jurisdictions like the European Union (under MiCA) have a clear registry, in the US, the cost of compliance, coupled with fines, is creating a barrier to entry that only companies with massive capital can overcome, eliminating competition from emerging startups.
Nexo’s new structure, now linked to the Bakkt platform, is a perfect example of the current limitations:
- Loss of technological sovereignty: Companies can no longer operate natively; they must seek traditional “validators” (entities with banking or traditional custody licenses) to be accepted.
- Less adaptive models: The process of registering products like traditional financial securities is slow and expensive, preventing crypto companies from updating their services at the speed of the global market.
- Disadvantage for the consumer: US users now receive a “restricted” or “restructured” version of the products that the rest of the world uses freely, limiting their access to competitive returns.
The Nexo case confirms that the “clarity” so desperately needed by the industry is not being delivered through legislation, but rather through sanctions. The company’s return under a much more conservative model is a victory for centralized control, but a warning sign for the United States’ technological competitiveness.
The development of legislative proposals such as the Token Taxonomy Act or new approaches to digital custody will be the key indicators of whether this model of “forced association” will become the permanent norm or merely a temporary phase of resistance.
