Why Crypto Flinches When SEC Calls Coins Securities: QuickTake

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has put the financial world on notice: It considers a range of widely traded digital assets to be securities, a position that could impose steep regulatory requirements on digital-asset exchanges. Recently announced legal actions against some of the biggest names in crypto trading will put that proposition to the test. Figuring out what does or doesn’t make a coin a security is still a major point of contention.

1. What is the SEC doing?

In July 2022, as part of an insider-trading case, the SEC identified nine cryptoassets that it considered to be securities. ...