Uphold to Pay $5M in Settlement Over Misleading Crypto Promotions

New York regulators have ordered cryptocurrency platform Uphold to surrender more than $5 million to customers affected by its promotion of CredEarn, a now-defunct crypto savings product. The settlement represents a fivefold penalty over the company's earnings from the arrangement.

Attorney General Letitia James announced the resolution this week, concluding an investigation into Uphold's role in marketing CredEarn between 2019 and 2020. The platform had advertised the product as a secure vehicle for earning yields, without disclosing its reliance on high-risk microloans to unbanked Chinese gamers.

The enforcement action highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of yield-bearing crypto products. "I'll always work to ensure bad actors are held accountable for putting people's livelihoods at risk," James stated in a social media post accompanying the settlement announcement.