The number of cryptocurrencies accused of being classified as “securities” by the United States securities regulator has now reached approximately 61. This increase in the count comes from recent litigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the crypto exchange Binance.
Over the years, the SEC has been involved in various legal proceedings that have helped identify which cryptocurrencies it considers securities. In the recent case against Binance, the SEC added 10 more cryptocurrencies to the securities classification, including BNB, Binance USD, Solana, Cardano, Polygon, Cosmos, The Sandbox, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, and COTI.
The SEC has previously deemed several other notable cryptocurrencies as securities, such as Ripple’s XRP, LBRY Credits, and Algorand. Notably, Algorand was charged alongside five others when Bittrex faced charges in April.
In a significant move, the SEC labeled 16 crypto assets, including Terra Luna Classic, Terra Classic USD, Mirror Protocol, and 13 Mirrored Assets, as securities when it charged Terraform Labs with fraud in February. These Mirrored Assets aimed to mirror the price of stocks like Apple and Tesla.
The SEC’s involvement in regulating the crypto space now extends to over $100 billion, representing approximately 10% of the total crypto market capitalization of $1.09 trillion.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler has stated that, in his view, “everything other than Bitcoin” falls under the agency’s jurisdiction as a security. With around 25,500 cryptocurrencies currently listed on CoinMarketCap, the SEC’s reach covers a significant portion of the crypto market.
Here is a list of some of the cryptocurrencies that the SEC has designated as “securities”: XRP, Telegram’s Gram, LBRY Credits, OmiseGo, DASH, Algorand, Naga, Monolith, IHT Real Estate, Power Ledger, Kromatica, DFX Finance, Amp, Rally, Rari Governance Token, DerivaDAO, XYO Network, Liechtenstein Cryptoasset Exchange, Kin, Salt Lending, Beaxy Token, DragonChain, Tron, BitTorrent, Terra USD, Luna, Mirror Protocol, Mango, Ducat, Locke, EthereumMax, Hydro, BitConnect, Meta 1 Coin, Filecoin, BNB, Binance USD, Solana, Cardano, Polygon, Cosmos, The Sandbox, Decentraland, Axie Infinity, COTI, Paragon, AirToken.
Additionally, the Mirror Protocol includes Mirrored Assets tied to various companies and commodities, such as Apple, Amazon, Alibaba, Alphabet, Microsoft, Netflix, Tesla, Twitter, iShares Gold Trust, Invesco QQQ Trust, iShares Silver Trust, United States Oil Fund, LP, and ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF.
