Financial technology company BitClave PTE. has agreed to pay $25.5 million to settle charges brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claiming it violated federal securities laws with its digital asset, Consumer Activity Tokens.

The settlement offers another benchmark for penalties that cryptocurrency companies might face if their offerings fall within the SEC's hazy classification for digital securities.

Despite agreeing to pay the $25.5 million disgorgement that will be distributed to investors, the San Jose-based blockchain startup did not admit to the SEC's contentions that CAT met the definition of  investment contracts and BitClave should have registered the initial coin offering with the agency.

"Issuers of securities, traditional or digital, must comply with the registration requirements of the federal securities laws," Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division's Cyber Unit, said in a statement. "The remedies ordered by the Commission will provide meaningful relief to investors in this unregistered offering."

Perkin Coie's Adam Schuman, who represented BitClave, declined to comment.

The settlement marks the end of the CAT digital asset, as BitClave agreed to transfer its remaining 1.32 billion CAT to a fund administrator who will permanently disable it. The company also agreed to pay more than $3.4 million in prejudgment interest and a civil monetary penalty of $400,000.

"We are pleased to resolve this regulatory matter with the SEC," according to a company statement. "We are grateful to have had support from a team and a community passionate about data privacy and finding ways to enable consumers to control when and how they share data."

According to the SEC's administrative cease and desist order, CAT had already been removed from four trading platforms while the company took its former officer, director and co-founder to California state court for allegedly misusing company funds that were raised in the ICO.