Cryptocurrency Prices Recover After SEC Suits Against Binance and Coinbase

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Cryptocurrency Prices Recover After SEC Suits Against Binance and Coinbase

Cryptocurrency prices recovered on Tuesday, with Bitcoin (BTC) leading the charge, a day after a mass sell-off triggered by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) suing Binance and filing a second suit against Binance rival Coinbase. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization recently soared above $27,000, up almost 6% over the past 24 hours. On Monday, BTC had fallen near $25,400 as investors, already skittish from months of digital asset debacles, abandoned crypto after the SEC said Binance had violated securities law.

The broader crypto market also regained ground since Monday, albeit somewhat less than BTC. ETH, the second largest crypto by market value, was recently changing hands at slightly below $1,900, up 4.5% from Monday. ADA and SOL, the tokens of the smart contract platforms Cardano and Solana, recently rose more than 1% a day after plunging more than 8% and 10%, respectively. Binance’s BNB native token was also in positive territory, while Polygon’s MATIC was down 1%. The SEC listed those tokens and nine others as unregistered securities in the two lawsuits. The Coindesk Market Index (CMI), which tracks the price of a basket of tokens, recently rose 4.5%.

Notably, the SEC avoided mentioning BTC and ETH in its filings against Binance and Coinbase, a reassuring sign for investors that U.S. regulators consider both tokens commodities. Vetle Lunde, senior analyst of crypto research firm K33 Research, deemed BTC’s initial steep decline following the Binance lawsuit an overreaction, saying, “Bitcoin is classified as a commodity. Americans can purchase BTC through a plethora of exchanges, exchange-traded funds, payment apps, and more.” Senior market analyst Edward Moya at trading platform Oanda wrote that the SEC crackdown on altcoins could even benefit Bitcoin, noting that “many crypto investors might just decide to give up on most altcoins and stick with what has worked best since cryptos were created.”