🇺🇸 The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) have officially fixed their sights on major crypto exchanges such as Coinbase and Binance. According to the SEC, Coinbase enabled trading for at least 13 cryptocurrencies that the SEC have deemed securities. Similarly, it accused Binance of trading at least 12 such digital assets.
💰 The list of tokens being deemed securities by the SEC have a cumulative market cap of over $120 billion and include cryptos such as Solana, Cardano, Polygon, The Sandbox, Axie Infinity and Decentraland.
👀 “Coinbase’s alleged failures deprive investors of critical protections, including rule books that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest and routine inspection,” SEC chair Gary Gensler tweeted.
📊 After news of the lawsuit broke, the two largest crypto exchanges globally saw a whopping $1B+ net outflow each in 24 hours, according to data from Nansen. Binance said it expected the “higher than normal outflows” following the lawsuit news, and claim the outflows have since “stabilized”.
😬 The SEC also claims Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao ran a “web of deception”, while Coinbase was targeted as it avoided investor protection disclosure requirements. Shares of Coinbase expectedly took a tumble following these allegations.
⏳ Experts say other US crypto exchanges like Kraken, Gemini, Crypto.com, and OKCoin are likely on the SEC’s radar as well.
🤝 Both Coinbase and Binance seem up for the fight, pledging to defend themselves against the regulators. Grab some popcorn, we may be in for quite a show!