The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is “mistaken” in charging crypto exchange Bittrex Global GmbH with breach of local securities law, its Chief Executive Officer Oliver Linch said during a phone interview with CoinDesk on Monday.

On April 17, the SEC charged Bittrex Inc. and its former CEO William Shihara for operating an unregistered securities exchange, broker and clearing agency in the country. In the same complaint, the regulator accused Bittrex Global GmbH of failing to register as a securities exchange “in connection with its operation of a single shared order book” with U.S.’ Bittrex.

The regulator alleged both Bittrex and Bittrex Global should have registered as an exchange because they “brought together” securities orders of multiple buyers and sellers “using established, non-discretionary methods under which such orders interacted.”

(by Parikshit Mishra)