Targeting other unregistered securities including Axie Infinity (AXS), Filecoin (FIL), and Cosmos (ATOM), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has expanded its case against Binance. The legal action fits the Commission’s continuous attempts to control the bitcoin market.
To its list of assets it considers securities, the SEC included many tokens—including The Sandbox’s SAND and Decentraland’s MANA—into its legal filings. According to the government, The Cryptocurrency Exchange and its U.S. partner, BAM Trading, helped trade these now-classified assets without appropriate registration.
“Binance and BAM Trading fill these markets with information republishing and amplifying the issuer and promoter statements and activity promoting [tokens] as an investment.”
SEC Charges Binance Illicit Activity
Operating as an unlicensed exchange, broker-dealer, clearing agent, the Commission charges Binance of illicit activity. The lawsuit alleges Binance neglected to explain the dangers connected with the tokens it sold and engaged in transactions using interstate commerce.
As it keeps claiming that many digital assets come under securities law, this growth conforms with the SEC’s larger crackdown on the crypto community. Critics of the agency’s regulatory approach—including Stuart Alderoty, chief legal officer of Ripple—have pointed out inconsistencies in the Commision’s legal claims.
Chief legal officer Paul Grewal of Coinbase also questioned the Commision’s legal approach, pointing past statements that XRP, the coin used in Ripple, was indeed a security. This comes as the Commission comes under more examination on its position on digital assets.
