The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched proceedings on Coinbase on nine altcoins it claims are securities.
This information was included in a complaint that accused and arrested a former Coinbase employee and two others of insider trading fraud.
SEC Announces Altcoins It Considers Securities
The altcoins announced by the SEC are: AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, CHROME.
These assets are linked to accusations of insider trading at Coinbase.
“The message we are sending with these charges is clear: fraud is fraud, whether it happens on the blockchain or on Wall Street,” the SEC wrote in its complaint.
This latest incident is among the few instances where the US securities and exchanges regulator has labeled some specific cryptocurrencies as securities.
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Originally, former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton, of bitcoin He said it wasn’t a security.
William Hinman, the SEC’s former director of corporate finance, then Ethereum declared that it did not exhibit the characteristics of a security.
Current SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has more recently undermined this latter view, saying that Bitcoin is the only token he feels comfortable calling a commodity.
Today’s complaint is the SEC’s cryptocurrency points out that it largely maintains the view that most of its units are securities.
SEC Official Made a Statement on the Subject
Gurbir Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Executive Division, said in a statement:
“We are not concerned with labels, but with the economic realities of a product.
In this case, these facts confirm that some of the crypto assets in question are securities and that the defendants allegedly engaged in typical insider trading before they were listed on Coinbase.
Rest assured, regardless of the label on these securities, we will continue to provide a level playing field for investors.”
*Not investment advice.