Bitcoin and Ethereum Slump as SEC Lawsuit Against Coinbase Weighs on Crypto Market

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(Some Fortune Crypto pricing data is provided by Binance.) Prices for Bitcoin, Ether and other major cryptocurrencies fell slightly just after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued US crypto exchange Coinbase just a day after the agency filed another successful lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.

Bitcoin immediately fell by around 1%, Ether by 0.7% and BNB, Binances’ digital currency, fell to a low of 1%. Bitcoin started the day at $25,700 and fell to $25,400. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell by around 0.7%.

In the lawsuit against Coinbase, the SEC specifically detailed a non-exhaustive list of 13 cryptocurrencies that it claimed were securities, including detail pages describing those token releases. The most important are Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA) and Polygon (MATIC). After the SEC lawsuit became public, SOL fell about 2%, ADA 0.6%, and MATIC 2.6%.

Since they were first offered or sold, each of these Crypto Asset Securities has been offered and sold, and continues to be offered and sold today, as an investment contract and therefore as a security, the SEC wrote.

The market depression mirrors the price action seen on Monday, when the SEC sued Binance as cryptocurrencies and stock prices of publicly traded crypto companies, including Coinbase, took a hit.

In its lawsuit against the US crypto exchange, the SEC alleges that Coinbase operated as a brokerage, national securities exchange and clearing agency without registering with the agency.

You simply can’t ignore the rules because you don’t like them or because you prefer others: the consequences for the investing public are far too great, said Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the division of the SEC enforcement, in a statement.

The SEC’s reliance on an enforcement-only approach in the absence of clear rules for the digital asset industry hurts Americas economic competitiveness and companies like Coinbase that have demonstrated a commitment to compliance, said Paul Grewal, Chief Legal Officer of Coinbases, in a shared statement. with Fortune.

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