US tightens control over digital currency

On June 5, the SEC accused the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance and CEO Changpeng Zhao of diverting funds, deceiving investors and regulators, and violating securities laws.

According to SCMP , Associate Professor at Columbia University (USA) Omid Malekan said that the cryptocurrency market will "slowly die" if it follows SEC regulations under Chairman Gary Gensler.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Gensler said the SEC has been working with 10 states to file complaints against Coinbase. He sees the SEC’s efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies as one of the measures to protect investors and the integrity of the U.S. market.

Coinbase was co-founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong. The CEO of Coinbase is not accused of wrongdoing in the SEC’s complaint. While Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, with more than 150 different tokens traded. Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal has said tokens are not securities. The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement approach in the absence of clear regulation for the digital asset industry is harming the economic competitiveness of the United States and companies like Coinbase, Grewal said.

SEC Accuses Coinbase of Operating as an Exchange, Broker-Dealer, and Clearing House Without Registering with the SEC

A virtual currency may fall under the SEC’s jurisdiction if investors buy it to fund a company or project with the intention of making a profit. In its complaint, the SEC claims that several tokens offered on Coinbase are securities, including SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, and NEXO.

The question of whether certain tokens are securities has dogged the cryptocurrency industry for years, according to SCMP . In 2020, the SEC sued Ripple Labs Inc, arguing that its XRP tokens were securities and subject to SEC regulations.

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