With the emergence of large crypto exchanges and the rise of cryptocurrencies beyond the small and technically savvy community, regulators around the world are watching the industry closely, trying to take control of it. Another lawsuit stunned the crypto market this week;
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a U.S. regulator that has long sought to bring crypto exchanges under its jurisdiction, has gone on the warpath and charged crypto exchange Binance, its U.S. subsidiary Binance U.S. and their founder Changpeng Zhao with 13 counts, and also sued the Coinbase platform.
What happened
Earlier this year, the SEC had already taken its first steps against the crypto industry by launching an investigation into the crypto exchange Kraken. However, the claims about the activities of Binance and Coinbase are more extensive.
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Binance. Main charges: providing brokerage, exchange and clearing services without SEC registration, trading in securities, launching cryptocurrency earning programs without proper risk warnings, providing services to U.S. citizens, deliberate concealment of information and systematic violation of laws. The lawsuit focuses on the “cynical disregard” of U.S. laws that enriched the exchange’s representatives by billions of dollars.
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Binance U.S.. The American division of the exchange, which was created in an attempt by Binance to sit on two chairs, for the most part, face the same charges as the global platform. However, in the case of Binance U.S., the regulator also demanded the blocking of exchange accounts and the return of all funds, including cryptocurrencies, to U.S. customers;
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Coinbase. The regulator has fewer complaints about this platform. The main charges are that Coinbase provided clearing and exchange services without proper registration with the SEC, as well as trading in cryptocurrencies, which are securities. The platform’s stacking program came under attack as unauthorized trading in investment contracts;
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Coinbase has previously demanded certainty from authorities in regulating the crypto industry and said it may leave the U.S. if the situation continues to worsen. Binance previously set up a separate U.S. branch to operate in the U.S., and also claimed to comply with U.S. sanctions imposed on various countries. However, these actions have not saved exchanges from the scrutiny of U.S. regulators.
Market reaction
In addition to the charges brought against the exchanges, the SEC named 19 crypto-assets as securities in lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase. SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, MANA, ALGO and AXS were included in the list of “securities” traded on both exchanges.
The crypto market expectedly reacted to the negativity by falling: the cryptoassets that were included in the lists lost at least 6-8% of their prices. At the same time bitcoin, which was not on any of the lists, fell by more than 5%. Bitcoin managed to recover to $27,000 in the middle of the week after falling to $25,400. However, on Thursday the market turned back to the red zone and the price of BTC, as well as other crypto assets, began to decline again.
It is still difficult to say what will happen to the price of bitcoin and other major crypto-assets. Major lawsuits by regulators against cryptocurrency exchanges make investors worried. Panic sales, withdrawal of crypto-assets from platforms due to fears of liquidity problems on platforms begin. However, even the SEC lawsuit could not seriously bring down the price of BTC: swings of 5% have long been commonplace for the first cryptocurrency and they can hardly be called something out of the ordinary.
Bitcoin at the ready
During the short-term market recovery after the fall of more than 5%, those bitcoin holders who prepared their bitcoins for sale in time managed to benefit. Even when trading on major exchanges and P2P platforms, there is always the risk of getting “dirty” coins;
These bitcoins will be very hard to sell later, since many crypto-exchanges and exchanges use analytics software that flags suspect addresses and helps freeze users’ assets until the origin of the funds is revealed. Such checks can lead to blocking the account on the exchange, which makes it impossible to quickly sell BTC.
This situation can be avoided by using a bitcoin mixer. In full anonymization mode after clearing on Mixer.money user receives bitcoins from major cryptocurrency exchanges with a turnover of 1 000 000 BTC per day. It becomes impossible to trace the origin of the coins, such bitcoins are not detected by the analytical software as having been involved in the mixing;
You can use TOR mirrors for mixing via the site, as well as the official Mixer.money bot in Telegram. Clearing coins takes up to six hours, and the service’s maximum commission is up to 5% via the site and up to 4.5% via bot + 0.0007 BTC.
The main danger for bitcoin and the market is a further development of the situation with Binance. The collapse of such a giant would affect absolutely everyone in the industry, not just platform customers. However, Binance operates worldwide and has liquidity providers and market makers outside the U.S.. The lawsuit from the world’s largest financial regulator is an unpleasant situation for Binance, but so far there is no reason to believe that this is the beginning of the collapse of the largest cryptocurrency exchange.
It is worth being prepared for any scenario in the industry and prepare your bitcoins for sale in a timely manner with Mixer.money;