SEC settles with Airfox and Paragon, first civil penalties for ICO registration violations

The SEC settled charges against CarrierEQ (Airfox) and Paragon Coin, the agency's first cases imposing civil penalties purely for failing to register ICO tokens as securities, absent any fraud allegation. Each firm paid a $250,000 penalty and agreed to register its tokens under the Exchange Act, file periodic reports, and refund harmed investors. The settlements effectively published a compliance template that every subsequent unregistered-ICO case would follow.