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SEC Lists 9 Crypto Tokens as Securities After Ex-Coinbase Employee Insider Trading Charges

Tyler Irvin

Summary: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has defined nine cryptocurrencies as securities in response to charging a former Coinbase employee and two others with wire fraud.  The assets were: AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, KROM. They were each mentioned in connection with alleged insider trading from the three aforementioned people who realized ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has defined nine cryptocurrencies as securities in response to charging a former Coinbase employee and two others with wire fraud. 

The assets were: AMP, RLY, DDX, XYO, RGT, LCX, POWR, DFX, KROM. They were each mentioned in connection with alleged insider trading from the three aforementioned people who realized “ill-gotten gains” worth approximately $1.5 million. 

This is one of the few examples where the SEC clearly defines certain cryptocurrencies as securities. In 2018, the SEC did however state that the top two cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin and Ether, are not considered securities. 

However, those thoughts were recently questioned by SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, who stated in an interview last month that only Bitcoin should be considered as a commodity and thus should be regulated under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). 

Gensler went on to say that other crypto financial assets “have the key attributes of a security,” noting they both share the idea that “the investing public is hoping for a return.” 

Author: Tyler Irvin

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