SEC halts trading of secretive bitcoin stock

Now that’s a pretty penny-stock.

US regulators on Thursday halted trading in a Canadian bitcoin company that had surged more than 6,000 percent this year.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has concerns that the company, First Bitcoin Capital, wasn’t telling the whole truth about what it owns and how it’s structured.

First Bitcoin, run by Simon Rubin, a secretive digital currency entrepreneur, was halted by the SEC before it opened for trading.

The SEC froze trading on the stock at $1.79. It was trading for less than 3 cents on Dec. 31.

“The Commission temporarily suspended trading in the securities of BITCF because of concerns regarding the accuracy and adequacy of publicly available information about the company, including, among other things, the value of BITCF’s assets and its capital structure,” the regulator said in a statement.

It’s unclear what accounted for the recent surge in the company’s price, which reached a high of $2.70 on Aug. 14.

The company had no income as of the third quarter of 2016, according to an unaudited financial report at the time — the last one available.

Not much is known about First Bitcoin. Rubin, the CEO and chairman, is described in a bare-bones company bio as “a serial entrepreneur with a background in programming and web design.”

Rubin is the only officer listed without a photo.

The company, in a statement, said the SEC action was likely the case of a “misunderstanding” or a needed clarification.

“[I]t would have been better for the SEC to ask us for [some] information before taking such drastic action,” it said.