The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued an average Binance has filed a complaint against it, bringing very positive news for Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA). The amendment includes a crucial change regarding the classification of ten cryptocurrencies, including Solana and Cardano, which were initially classified as securities in the SEC’s sweeping legal action against Binance and its former CEO, Changpeng Zhao.
Cardano and Solana are not securities.
The original complaint, filed by the SEC on June 5, 2023, targeted Binance along with its U.S. subsidiary, BAM Trading Services Inc. The agency’s charges centered on allegations that these entities operated without the necessary registrations to act as national securities exchanges, brokers, and clearing agencies. This lack of registration allegedly allowed Binance to operate an unregulated trading platform, thereby exposing U.S. investors to significant risks and misleading them regarding the security and regulatory oversight of their investments.
Today, July 30, the U.S. agency filed an amendment to its complaint regarding “crypto-asset securities.” This amendment eliminates the immediate need for a court to rule on the sufficiency of the claims related to these tokens.
The document explains that “the SEC has notified Defendants that it intends to seek leave to amend its complaint, specifically with respect to ‘third-party crypto-asset securities’ as defined in the SEC’s blanket opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Action, No. 172, thereby eliminating the need for the court to evaluate the sufficiency of the claims relating to these tokens at this stage.”
It is worth noting that the SEC initially classified ten cryptocurrencies including Binance Coin (BNB), Binance USD (BUSD), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), Cosmos (ATOM), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Axie Infinity (AXS), and COTI (COTI) as securities.
Despite the potential bullish implications of the SEC’s decision to reclassify some tokens, there has been little reaction from the market so far. At the time of writing, Solana’s price was down -5.5% and Cardano’s -4.5% over the past 24 hours. Similarly, the other cryptocurrencies mentioned in the SEC’s initial complaint have shown no significant market movement, in line with broader market sentiment, which has been affected by recent negative news surrounding Bitcoin, particularly regarding the U.S. government’s potential sale of up to 29,800 BTC.
DeFi^2 (@DefiSquared), the top-rated crypto trader on Bybit, Hang on Via X: “The market has been ignoring this move for some reason, but it actually seems like very big news for coins that are no longer classified as securities? Short-term implications include Robinhood’s impending relisting, and better longer-term chances of new ETF approvals.”
The Chicago Stock Exchange filed a formal request with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow asset managers VanEck and 21Shares to launch a Solana-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) in early July. The request was expressed in two filings under Form 19b-4 with the SEC, proposing to list these products, subject to regulatory approval.
At the time of publishing this report, Cardano was trading at $0.4015.
Featured image created using DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com