Key Takeaways
- Solana, Cardano, and Polygon, Cosmos (ATOM), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Axie Infinity (AXS), and COTI have been removed from the SEC’s list of alleged securities in the Binance case.
- SEC will no longer ask the court to decide whether the affected tokens are securities.
In a significant development, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced its intention to drop claims against several tokens listed on Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange.
On July 30, the SEC filed a response to the court’s July 9 minute order, seeking to amend its complaint concerning the “Third Party Crypto Asset Securities” mentioned in its opposition to Binance’s motion to dismiss.
The SEC’s decision means it no longer requires the court to determine whether the affected tokens are securities at this time. This change follows the SEC’s initial lawsuit against Binance, which listed several tokens, including 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.
Following the latest amendment, SOL, ADA, and MATIC are no longer targeted as securities, aligning with the court’s previous ruling that secondary sales of BNB and BUSD are not securities. Additionally, tokens such as Cosmos, The Sandbox, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and COTI have also been removed from the SEC’s list of alleged securities in the Binance case.
In June 2023, the SEC claimed that at least 68 tokens were securities, impacting more than $100 billion worth of cryptocurrencies in the market.
The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance, Binance.US, and CEO Changpeng Zhao, filed in June 2023, alleged that the exchanges were offering unregistered broker, trading, and clearing services in the U.S. for unregistered digital asset securities.