Following the latest legal actions by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase, the total number of labeled crypto-securities has reached an estimated 67, encompassing more than $100 billion worth of the market. Amidst this digital asset crackdown, trading volume across major decentralized exchanges surged 444%, with SEC crypto-related enforcement actions rising by 183% in the six months following FTX’s bankruptcy.
The SEC filed charges against Binance on June 5 for alleged unregistered offerings and sales of tokens and failing to register as an exchange or broker-dealer. Similar allegations were made against Coinbase, as the SEC claimed that cryptocurrencies offered by the exchange are securities. Within 30 hours of these charges, the net worths of Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong suffered significant losses, plummeting by $1.33 billion and $289 million, respectively.
In response to the regulatory crackdown, Binance.US has suspended U.S. dollar deposits and announced a temporary halt to fiat withdrawals. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com is suspending its services to American institutional clients, citing limited demand and difficult market conditions as the primary reasons. However, American retail users will still have access to the platform’s cryptocurrency derivatives trading and UpDown Options offerings.
The SEC’s measures have sparked debate among crypto enthusiasts, with supporters arguing that applying existing securities laws will help clean up the crypto market, as Congress had done with the stock market in the 1920s. On the other hand, critics claim that the SEC’s overly expansive view of its regulatory authority threatens to stifle innovation and drive it out of the United States.
While proponents and skeptics continue debating the implications of these events, the outcome remains uncertain. What is clear, however, is that the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency will continue to adapt and develop in response to these regulatory challenges.
Source: Cointelegraph
