SEC targets US$115 billion of crypto following lawsuit against Binance: Bloomberg

The U.S. SEC has extended the list of cryptocurrencies it considers unregistered securities to cover US$115 billion worth of tokens following its Monday lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

By Timmy Shen2023-06-06 5:10 AM UTC

WASHINGTON – SEPTEMBER 18: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seal hangs on the facade of its building September 18, 2008 in Washington, DC. Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has called for the ouster of SEC Chairman Christopher Cox in the wake of the collapse of several giant banks on Wall Street and the resulting financial crisis. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has extended the list of cryptocurrencies it considers unregistered securities to cover US$115 billion worth of tokens following its Monday lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Fast facts

The SEC said in a Monday complaint that tokens traded on Binance, including the BNB token issued by Binance, stablecoin BUSD, Solana, Cardano’s ADA, Polygon’s MATIC, are securities and require registration and regulation.
Considering other tokens already targeted by the SEC, that would round up the coins it regards as securities to amount to US$115 billion of cryptocurrencies, according to the Bloomberg report.
On Monday, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance, alleging the exchange made unregistered and unlawful offers and sales of its BNB and BUSD tokens. The SEC also alleged that Binance did not register Binance.com as an exchange or a broker-dealer clearing agency.
A Binance spokesperson told Forkast on Tuesday morning in an emailed statement that BNB is not a security. “Rather, BNB is a native token, designed to create an internal economy; thus, its value derives from its participants.”
The lawsuit sent shockwaves through the crypto market. Bitcoin dropped 4% in the past 24 hours to US$25,780 at 12:35 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Ether fell 3.15%, and BNB lost 8.05% to trade at US$276.99.