This is Why the SEC is Suing Coinbase and Binance

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been in the news for the past two days by suing two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges alleging they sell unregistered securities.

While the SEC Chairman says these actions are for the greater good of investors, Ripple CEO – Brad Garlinghouse – thinks there is another reason.

FTX, anyone?

In the span of just 24 hours, the SEC has launched two high-profile lawsuits against two of the industry’s most prominent heavyweights – Binance and Coinbase.

Although they have some differences in the details, the two lawsuits are quite similar in essence as they allege that the two exchanges sell (and issue in the case of Binance) unregistered securities in the form of various digital assets such as BNB, BUSD, SOL, MATIC, ADA and others.

Interestingly, the lawsuits didn’t mention Ripple’s native XRP token — even though the SEC has been engaged in a legal battle against the blockchain company for more than two years over it. Nonetheless, the company’s CEO, who has openly criticized the securities regulator several times in the past, decided to speak out on the matter.

Garlinghouse disagreed with Gary Gensler’s official story that the Commission strives to be “pro-innovation”. In fact, he claimed the regulator was trying to make amends because it failed to prevent FTX’s noisy crash last year.

Moreover, the Ripple chief further blamed Gensler and his agency for overstepping the bounds as they do not have the “power he so desperately craves”.

It’s embarrassing to see an unelected bureaucrat fidgeting like this to hide the fact that he and his agency don’t have the power he so desperately craves. No one is fooled.

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) June 6, 2023

What did Gensler say?

Gary Gensler was first welcomed by the crypto community after his appointment given his blockchain experience. However, all of this backfired on those hoping for clear and quick regulation, as he and his agency failed to provide regulatory frameworks, unlike other countries.

While giving a few interviews following the latest lawsuits, Gensler said the SEC only has to prove that one of the aforementioned crypto assets is a security, which will trigger the domino effect.

“All we have to show is that one of them is a security, and they should register properly and have rules against fraud and manipulation as an exchange, broker, etc. “