🔴Exchanges Beneath Assault! | This Week in Crypto – Jun 12, 2023

The SEC declares war against crypto companies, the UK plans to ban NFTs and Airdrops, and JP Morgan releases its price prediction for the Halving event. These stories and more, this week in crypto.

Tokens Tumble Following SEC’s Lawsuits

Solana, Cardano’s ADA and Polygon’s MATIC were among the numerous tokens suffering a sudden 20% drop, days after the SEC alleged they should be classified as securities. In total, 13 crypto assets were identified as securities in an SEC lawsuit filed against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase. The Robinhood trading platform quickly delisted Cardano, Polygon and Solana following the SEC filing.

SEC Accuses Binance of ‘Web of Deception’

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, has been accused of engaging in a “web of deception”, as it was hit with another lawsuit by the SEC. The regulator said the exchange and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, ignored the rules meant to protect investors to keep operating in the US, and accused them of mishandling customer funds. Binance said it would defend the platform “vigorously.”

Binance.US Suspends USD Trading

Meanwhile, Binance.US suspended US dollar deposits and has asked its customers to withdraw dollar deposits by Tuesday, ahead of a dollar withdrawal suspension as part of its transition to become a crypto only exchange. Globally, Binance is expected to continue services as usual. Binance.US said its decisions are part of efforts to protect customers and the platform amid “extremely aggressive and intimidating tactics” by the SEC.

SEC Charges Coinbase After Binance

The SEC has charged Coinbase with operating as an unregistered securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency, just a day after the filing against Binance. The SEC also charged Coinbase for failing to register the offer and sale of its crypto asset, staking-as-a-service program. CEO Brian Armstrong said there is no path to ‘come in and register’ even though they’ve tried repeatedly.

Crypto.com Suspends Institutional Services

Crypto.com has suspended its US institutional exchange service, citing limited demand for institutional-grade services under current market conditions. A statement from Crypto.com noted that the platform’s institutional users were given advance notice of the decision. Crypto.com’s retail mobile application and platform remain fully operational in the United States.

UK Plans to Ban NFTs and Airdrops

Giving away free non-fungible tokens (NFT) or cryptocurrencies through airdrops to promote investing in digital assets would be prohibited in the UK, after the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new rules come into effect in October. Under these rules, crypto will be categorized as a “restricted mass market investment,” and will require advertisements for crypto to have clear risk warnings or otherwise be banned.

Buterin’s New Ethereum Roadmap

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin laid out a new roadmap for the network’s future. He encouraged the Ethereum developers and community to push forward on the key areas of layer 2 scaling, wallet security and privacy in a coordinated manner. In a blog post titled “the Three Transitions,” Buterin wrote about the challenges of the technical transitions needing to be addressed simultaneously.

JPMorgan Bullish on Bitcoin Retail Demand

According to a new JP Morgan study, retail demand for bitcoin will remain strong over the coming year, driven by Bitcoin Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens as we head towards the next halving event. Bitcoin halving – when mining rewards are cut by 50% – would mechanically double bitcoin production cost to around $40,000, which the report claims would create a positive psychological effect.

That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.