U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler sits before the start of the hearing of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee on SEC oversight Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler It stepped up its attack on the cryptocurrency industry this week and filed a lawsuit coin base Binance has cast doubt on the future of token trading after a security breach.
Crypto investors got a tip. Four of the 10 most valuable coins have lost at least 15% in value this week, according to CoinMarketCap, and Gensler said in a lawsuit and in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, “We don’t need more digital currencies.” That was the reason for the sale. currency. “
of claim In response to Coinbase’s operation as an unregistered broker and exchange, the Securities and Exchange Commission said at least 13 crypto assets available to its customers are considered “crypto asset securities.”Includes Solana’s Sol token, Cardano’s ADA Token, Polygon’s MATIC Coin, Protocol Labs’ Filecoin Token (FIL).
trading app robin hood On Friday, they announced that they would no longer support trading Cardano, Polygon and Solana coins from June 27th. “Other coins will not be affected,” the company said. Also on Friday Crypto.com announced the closure of the US institutional exchange.
“No other coins were affected and your cryptocurrency remains safe on Robinhood,” the company said in a statement. director.
According to CoinMarketCap, the seventh-most valuable cryptocurrency, Cardano, has lost 20% over the past week. Ninth-placed Solana fell 18%. Polygon, which ranked 10th, also dropped 18%. Filecoin, at the bottom of the list, fell 19%. Fourth place Binance’s BNB token fell 16%.
Bitcoin and ethereumthe two most popular cryptocurrencies were more stable, each losing less than 5%.
Gensler, who was appointed SEC Commissioner by President Joe Biden in 2021, has spent much of the past year working with cryptocurrency companies and trades effectively selling speculative and risky securities masquerading as something else. I spent a lot of time chasing places.
From the famous fraud case involving Sam Bankman Freed FTX and Dogwon’s Terraform Lab To dozens of claims Involved in offering coins and suspected of being fraudulent marketingGensler made the once-boom-growing cryptocurrency industry his primary target.
“Ordinary investors are benefiting from U.S. securities laws,” Gensler said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Streets.” “Cryptocurrencies are no exception and these platforms and intermediaries need to comply.”
Gensler’s TV appearance comes after the SEC sued Coinbase, ruling the company to be “permanently bound and prohibited from operating a cryptocurrency trading platform as an unregistered domestic stock exchange, broker and clearing house.” It should be banned,” he said.
Shares of Coinbase, the only major U.S.-listed cryptocurrency exchange, have fallen 18% this week. Coinbase’s general counsel, Paul Grewal, told CNBC that the SEC’s approach to enforcement without clear rules is “like Coinbase’s demonstration of U.S. economic competitiveness and commitment to compliance.” It’s hurting good companies,” he said in a statement.
On the day before Lawsuit Against Binancethe SEC alleged that the company and its founder Zhao Changpeng mixed billions of dollars worth of user funds and transferred them to a European company controlled by Zhao.
Binance claims to have no formal headquarters and conducts most of its business overseas, but the SEC complaint found senior executives telling compliance officers that the company operates as a It is said that[f—ing] America’s Unlicensed Stock Exchange, brother. “
and blog postBinance said it was “disappointed” by the SEC lawsuit and said it “had extensive good faith discussions to reach a negotiated settlement to resolve the investigation.”
Others named in the SEC lawsuit also voiced their opinions following this week’s allegations.
The Cardano Foundation, which promotes the use of the technology of the same name, said it could not agree to denote its ADA coin as a security, stating that it would “continue to work with regulators and policy makers to achieve legal clarity and certainty.” I look forward to your continued involvement,” he tweeted. about these issues. “
Filecoin developer Protocol Labs said in a series of tweets on Thursday that the token is critical to the operation of the company’s decentralized storage network.This is how people buy storage from providers and according to the protocol the cost is much lower than what the user pays Amazon web service or Google cloud.
“Filecoin is a cryptocurrency-powered global storage network that stores mankind’s most important information, not security,” Protocol Lab tweeted.
In a 101-page complaint against Coinbase, the SEC made clear that regardless of whether these tokens had any practical utility, they could easily be purchased on the app by people with no other interest than investing. And Coinbase generates revenue by executing those trades.
“Coinbase makes these crypto assets available for trading,” the SEC said.
