Senior executives at a £5bn London-headquartered cryptocurrency enterprise are going through prosecution over the corporate’s failure to file its accounts on time.
Blockchain.com co-founder and president, Nicolas Cary, and operations government, Al Turnbull, had been issued with a summons by Companies House in May.
The case was heard at Cardiff Magistrates Court on Sept 25 and an additional listening to is scheduled for Nov 26, in accordance with courtroom paperwork seen by The Telegraph.
The cryptocurrency enterprise filed accounts for its enterprise for the yr ending 2020 solely this month and the authorized claims relate to its failure to supply accounts for the yr ending Dec 2022.
Founded in 2011 in York, Blockchain.com was one of many first digital forex companies and has emerged as a number one supplier of cryptocurrency wallets and buying and selling companies. It was final valued at round $7bn (£5bn) in November 2023, when it raised $110m.
Its wallets are utilized by tens of tens of millions of individuals to retailer and ship cryptocurrency and its traders embody Baillie Gifford, Google Ventures and billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global.
A conviction for failing to file accounts, which is introduced towards the administrators of the enterprise, may end up in an infinite tremendous.
In its accounts for the yr 2020, Blockchain.com mentioned its administrators had employed authorized advisers and had been planning to defend the matter.
The firm blamed the late submitting on a restructuring of the corporate and a “significant reduction in the wider group’s workforce” which has “taken a period of time to stabilise”. Blockchain.com employs a whole bunch of workers around the globe.
It added the administrators had been taking “appropriate steps to remediate the company’s compliance with all statutory annual filing requirements”.
A Companies House spokesman mentioned: “We can confirm we are taking enforcement action, however we are unable to comment further at this time.” Blockchain.com didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The authorized claims come as Companies House steps up enforcement action towards companies for failing to file their accounts.
The authorities physique has turn into extra aggressive amid considerations its register is polluted with bogus administrators and pretend firms, with submitting deadlines repeatedly ignored.
Companies House was granted new powers in March to question, examine and take away false info from the register, with the physique promising a extra “robust approach”.
In September, Martin Swain, director of intelligence at Companies House, mentioned: “Where our guidance and support are not enough to encourage users to comply with the law or discourage misuse of our registers, we won’t hesitate to use these new powers available to us.”
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that Sanjeev Gupta, the metal magnate, was going through prosecution for allegedly failing to file accounts for greater than 70 companies.
A spokesman for Mr Gupta’s GFG Alliance mentioned it had taken “all reasonable steps to resolve the situation”.
Mr Gupta and different administrators on the firms have pleaded not responsible.
