KEY POINTS
- The SEC said in its latest filing that it wants to amend its Binance complaint, including on altcoins
- Among the crypto tokens the SEC initially wanted to tag as securities in its Binance case were $SOL, $ADA, and $MATIC
- A DeFi lawyer said the filing doesn't fully clarify whether the tokens in question were deemed securities or not
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has hinted in a filing as part of its case against cryptocurrency exchange titan Binance that it may hold off on declaring "altcoins" as unregistered securities, at least for now.
SEC seeks Binance complaint amendments
The Tuesday filing states that the regulator informed Binance of its intent to "seek leave to amend its Complaint, including with respect to the 'Third Party Crypto Asset Securities' as defined in the SEC's Omnibus Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss."
The Wall Street regulator said it seeks to amend its Binance lawsuit, including on altcoins – digital tokens beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum – so the court won't need to issue a ruling "as to the sufficiency of the allegations as to those tokens at this time."
In its June 2023 lawsuit against Binance, the SEC said Solana ($SOL), Cardano ($ADA), and Polygon ($MATIC) among others should have been tagged as unregistered securities.
Crypto community reacts
Following the SEC's decision regarding altcoins, the crypto community on X has been celebrating the development, with some users saying a $SOL exchange-traded fund (ETF) may now be possible in the future, given how the decision came after Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs went live.
One user was unhappy with the SEC supposedly not being held accountable for a "turn on and off switch" attitude toward altcoins.
Wtf, so the SEC has a turn on and off switch, just like that?
— XRPKickz 🇩🇴 (@JumpmanFiend) July 30, 2024
They playing too much games! No accountability huh?
Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder of the Gemini crypto exchange and custodial platform, thanked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, suggesting that the latter's support for the crypto space affected the SEC's latest move.
All of a sudden the @SECGov is no longer trying to classify 10 tokens (SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS and COTI) as securities. They’re amending their case against @BinanceUS to remove this allegation so the court won't rule on it. Thank you @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/NBGsX1QF9n
— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) July 30, 2024
Michaël van de Poppe, the founder of MN Trading Consultancy, said if the tokens previously claimed by the SEC are not securities, "it's great news."
Hodder Law Firm founder Sasha Hodder said the development means the SEC "has given up its war on crypto," saying it was a "huge win" for the crypto space.
Today the SEC has given up its war on crypto.
— Sasha Hodder (@sashahodler) July 30, 2024
They withdrew their request for a court ruling that several coins on Binance were securities.
This is a huge win for the crypto community!
DeFi lawyer begs to disagree
Prominent decentralized finance (DeFi) defense lawyer Carlo D'Angelo noted that the SEC's filing provides only "temporary relief" to the crypto tokens the regulatory agency previously wanted to designate as securities. The move "does not fully resolve the question of whether these tokens are investment contracts and subject to SEC regulation," he pointed out.
SEC Seeks to Amend Complaint Against Binance and Cut Claims That "third party crypto" Assets Such As SOL, MATIC and ADA Are Securities
— Carlo⚖️.eth (@DeFiDefenseLaw) July 30, 2024
In a significant development, the SEC has decided to put on hold its allegations that cryptocurrencies like Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and… pic.twitter.com/yq4Ac4WmOu
Another X user also argued that the key takeaway from the SEC's latest filing isn't that it no longer deems $SOL, $ADA, $MATIC, and other altcoins as securities. Instead, the filing indicates that the regulator "believes it would be harder to provide its claims" that the tokens are securities "so it wasn't worth their time and effort to try to do so in this one particular case."
SEC v Binance thoughts
— Nuclear Herbs (@NuclearHerbs) July 30, 2024
(I thought I had posted this earlier, but I can’t find it on my timeline so I guess I’ll post it again)
Important to dispel the rumor going around that the SEC no longer considers SOL, ADA, and MATIC securities. This is not the takeaway from the latest…
Remembering SEC vs Coinbase
While the SEC may have decided to change its approach in its Binance lawsuit, it is worth noting that it has a very similar case against another crypto exchange, Coinbase, wherein it alleges the same violation: Coinbase was offering services around cryptocurrencies that should have been classified as unregistered securities.
As with Binance, Coinbase allows users to buy, sell, and trade $SOL, $ADA, and $MATIC. The said case is ongoing and the parties have been engaged in a fierce legal fight for months now.
