Later Estimate This summer, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may end its war on altcoins like Solana, with the financial regulator now indicating that it intends to pursue claims that selling the entire token is an illegal, unregistered security offering.
as if Improved complaint In its lawsuit against Binance this week, the SEC took steps to remove controversial language describing the tokens. “crypto asset securities”But arguments that crypto exchanges violated the law by allowing their customers to buy and sell SOL were preserved and clarified.
“The Solana Foundation has stated that the announcement of trading with US-based exchanges is an opportunity to increase the value of SOL and its ‘ecosystem',” SEC lawyers wrote in a new language complaint to Binance this week.
“The public release of Solana Labs and Solana Foundation has led SOL holders, including those who bought SOL on Binance Platforms, to view SOL as an investment and expect to profit from Solana Labs and Solana Foundation. Efforts to develop the Solana protocol, which in turn, will increase the demand and value of SOL. ” argued SEC attorneys.
Securities are defined as assets that generate income for investors thanks in part to the active efforts of others.
At the end of July, the SEC indicated that it was considered Improvement The lawsuit against Binance for protecting certain language related to “third party crypto assets” including Solana CardanoAnd Polygon. At the time, some crypto lawyers Honored The news, taking it as a sign that the SEC was on the back foot, narrowed the case against Binance to smaller cryptocurrencies.
Other legal professionals Caution recommendedLittle has been said about the SEC's legal strategy, relegating the development to a minor clerical move.
Those latter voices seem to have been confirmed this week.– At least partially. The SEC doubled down, saying that the tokens in dispute were themselves securities, while Solana, Cardano, Polygon, and seven other crypto assets were.offered and sold” as securities. As such, the SEC alleges that Binance violated the law when it allowed its clients to trade these assets.
That position is consistent with the SEC's allegations. last week When suing Cumberland, a Chicago-based crypto trading firm. In that lawsuit, the regulator alleges that Cumberland violated securities laws by offering trading on Solana and Polygon along with other crypto tokens.
The SEC sued Binance first June 2023They argued that the company “acted in defiance of federal securities laws and investor and market protections” while operating as an unregistered exchange, broker and clearing agency. It wants to permanently prohibit Binance from participating in those activities without registering with the agency and compel the company both to cancel all “ill-gotten gains” related to the activity in question and to pay civil monetary penalties.
The SEC's aggressive stance on crypto projects and exchanges has become a major talking point in the 2024 US presidential election. Both vice president Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump He said he would do more to protect the crypto industry if elected.
For some observers, as a billionaire entrepreneur Mark CubanThis means that regardless of the outcome of the election, SEC charges against crypto companies such as Binance may be partially or fully reconsidered, and there may be a change in leadership at the commission.
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