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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Edward Helmore in New York

US targets Binance and Coinbase – is the government ready to regulate crypto?

The SEC alleges Coinbase skirted SEC rules by letting users trade crypto tokens that were actually unregistered securities.
The SEC alleges Coinbase skirted SEC rules by letting users trade crypto tokens that were actually unregistered securities. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

For years, US financial regulators couldn’t agree on what to do about cryptocurrency. They wanted to do something, but couldn’t agree on what crypto was – a security, like a stock or bond, or a commodity, like a raw material or agricultural product, or neither? – and which agency would have jurisdiction.

This week, Gary Gensler, a longtime critic of crypto and the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), appears to have found the answer – by launching a crackdown on crypto exchanges, the platforms on which investors buy and sell digital currencies.

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