SEC crackdown on crypto continues
One day after targeting Binance, federal regulators announced charges against Coinbase.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is making it pretty clear that it plans to act tough when it comes to the leaders in the world of cryptocurrency exchanges.
The SEC went after Binance on Monday, charging the company and its founder Changpeng Zhao (aka CZ) with “operating unregistered exchanges, broker-dealers, and clearing agencies; misrepresenting trading controls and oversight on the Binance.US platform; and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.”
Then on Tuesday, the SEC announced that publicly traded Coinbase was being charged for “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency” and “failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset staking-as-a-service program.”
Shares of Coinbase tumbled nearly 15% Tuesday, following a 9% drop Monday on the Binance news.
The SEC and the crypto leaders need to come to an agreement (soon) about just how the top crypto exchanges should be allowed to function. Bitcoin, ether and other digital currencies aren’t going away. Crypto is a $1.1 trillion market.
Coinbase and Binance have long maintained that they are willing to play by the rules. They just have to know what they are. Until then, investors in crypto-related stocks as well as the currencies themselves, are flying blind. And you know what they say about the market hating uncertainty. Any crypto-related asset is a huge risk until the SEC can figure out how to effectively regulate them.