The cryptocurrency industry has been hit with $2.5 billion in penalties since Bitcoin was invented 12 years ago, according to figures released today. U.S. regulators—mostly the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—have fined crypto firms and individuals for everything from unregistered securities offerings to fraud, a Monday report by blockchain analytics company, Elliptic, said. {tweet} The biggest case was when the SEC forced popular messaging app, Telegram, to return more than $1.2 billion to investors and to pay a $18.5 million civil penalty. The SEC said that Telegram’s token sale, which raised $1.7 billion, ... (full story)