This week the U.S. SEC warned Coinbase (here) about enforcement actions and filed a lawsuit against BitTorrent by Justin Sun (here) for violating U.S. securities laws. Moreover, the regulator has warned investors about crypto securities. The SEC urges investors to be cautious with crypto asset securities. They would be exceptionally volatile and speculative. Crypto platforms may lack essential protections for investors. The wording crypto asset securities implies a regulatory obligation.
It looks like SEC Chair Gary Gensler and his people are cracking down on the crypto industry. The general suspicion is that most cryptos qualify as securities. Likewise, according to U.S. authorities, staking is to be seen as an investment service and requires registration. This could mean, for example, that the entire Ethereum blockchain and thus, the second most important cryptocurrency, Ether, would be subject to registration. This would put massive pressure on both the cryptocurrency issuers and the exchanges.
We are sure we will see more regulatory surprises in the coming weeks. Therefore, as a crypto investor, you should be cautious and avoid U.S. crypto exchanges.
