Crypto: Nexo Is Back In The Us: What Changed After The 2023 Crypto Lending...
After the 2023 crackdown, Nexo reenters the US with a partner-led model. What is different, and what should users watch?
After paying a $45-million settlement in 2023 and exiting the market, Nexo has reentered the US with a redesigned product model focused on regulatory alignment rather than direct yield issuance.
The 2023 crackdown centered on unregistered securities concerns. The SEC alleged that Nexo’s Earn Interest Product functioned as an unregistered security, raising questions about retail yield marketing, transparency, custody practices and counterparty risk.
The new model relies on licensed US partners. Instead of directly offering yield products, Nexo now operates through regulated US intermediaries, including licensed entities and, where required, SEC-registered investment advisers.
The Bakkt partnership anchors the compliance strategy. By collaborating with Bakkt, a publicly traded US crypto firm with regulatory licenses, Nexo shifts from a direct issuer model to a partner-delivered framework embedded within regulated infrastructure.
Three years after departing the US and paying a $45-million settlement to federal and state regulators, Nexo has formally reentered the US market. But this is not a straightforward relaunch. Rather, it is a structural overhaul.
What changed is not merely the timing or the political climate; it is how the product is designed, delivered and regulated.
This article examines why Nexo exited in 2023, what regulators objected to and how its 2026 return is structured differently. It also explores what US users should watch before engaging with crypto-backed loans or yield-style products.
Nexo, co-founded by former Bulgarian lawmaker Antoni Trenchev, developed much of its initial US footprint through its Earn Interest Product (EIP), which enabled users to deposit crypto and earn yield.
In January 2023, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Nexo of offering and selling unregistered securities through this product. The SEC contended that the EIP met the legal definition of a security and, therefore, required proper registration.
Source: CoinTelegraph
