Recent SEC filing marks 67 altcoins as securities
The number of coins regarded as securities by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is now 67, with a total market value of $100 billion.
The US SEC has now labeled 67 coins as securities following the lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
On June 5, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, alleging that they enriched themselves with billions of US dollars by offering unregistered securities services and sales of tokens while placing investors at risk. The next day, SEC sued Coinbase on similar grounds for allegedly acting as an unregistered broker.
In its lawsuit against Binance, the SEC classified ten cryptocurrencies as securities. Additionally, it named 13 cryptocurrencies as securities in the Coinbase filing.
Adding up to the previous cases, such as Bittrex and Ripple, the security label now applies to over $100 billion worth of crypto assets. They represent about 10% of the $1.09 trillion total crypto market capitalization.
The full list of tokens named as securities by the SEC on Binance include $ATOM, BNB, BUSD, and COTI, for Coinbase, they are CHZ, NEAR, FLOW, ICP, VGX, DASH, NEXO, while for both Binance and Coinbase, they SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS.
Following the suit, BinanceUS suspended US dollar deposits while clarifying that fiat withdrawals would be paused on June 13.
According to the exchange, steps were taken to enable a smooth transition to a crypto-only exchange. It maintained that trading, staking, deposits, and withdrawals in crypto remain operational.
On the other hand, Coinbase has continued to support the said securities tokens, despite the ongoing battle with the regulator.
In an interview on June 7, the CEO of Coinbase, Brian Armstrong, made it clear that the exchange has “no plans to delist any of these assets” and will continue operating “business as usual” until a court determination is made.