The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) paused trading on a crypto treasury holding company, alleging the firm may have artificially inflated its stock price with manipulative social media posts.
QMMM Holdings Limited, a digital media advertising company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and based in Hong Kong, announced on September 9th that it planned to establish $100 million Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) treasury.
The firm’s stock skyrocketed by more than 698% from its opening price of $14.95 on September 9th to $119.40 on September 29th, the day the SEC halted trading. It also reached an all-time high of $303 on the day of the announcement.
The SEC says in a trading suspension order that there may have been “manipulation in the securities of QMMM effectuated through recommendations, made to investors by unknown persons via social media to purchase the securities of QMMM, which appear to be designed to artificially inflate the price and volume of the securities of QMMM.”
“The Commission is of the opinion that the public interest and the protection of investors require a suspension of trading in the securities of the above-listed company.”
The regulator suspended QMMM securities trading from 4:00 AM ET on September 29th through 11:59 PM ET on October 10th.
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