Seeking Alpha
2023-03-23 18:48:33

SEC warns of 'significant' risk of loss for crypto investors

A day after sending out a Wells notice to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global ( COIN ), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued an investor alert warning that the risk of loss for crypto asset investors "remains significant," according to a Thursday bulletin. Moreover, the regulator's Office of Investors Education and Advocacy voiced concerns about the crypto trading platforms that may not be complying with federal securities laws. On Wednesday, Coinbase ( COIN ) received a warning that SEC staff recommended enforcement action against the company for allegedly breaching securities laws. That drove Oppenheimer to downgrade the centralized exchange's stock to Perform, and spurred a couple SA contributors to get bearish, including CashFlow Hunter , who had correctly predicted the demise of Silicon Valley Bank. COIN dropped on the news, cratering 14.5% as of 2:48 p.m. ET, despite bitcoin's ( BTC-USD ) risk-on day. "The law requires parties such as securities broker-dealers, investment advisers and exchanges to register with the SEC, a state regulator, and/or a self-regulatory organization," the SEC said . "Entities and platforms involved in lending or staking crypto assets may be subject to the federal securities laws." Elsewhere, the recent Economic Report of the President also bashed the digital asset industry, saying "crypto assets are mostly speculative investment vehicles" and "generally do not perform all the functions of money as effectively as sovereign money, such as the U.S. dollar." In one of the its more recent enforcement actions in the aftermath of crypto exchange FTX's multibillion-dollar collapse, the SEC filed an emergency action to freeze the assets of crypto hedge fund BKCoin for running an alleged $100M fraud. More on the Crypto Clampdown Ex-Terraform Labs CEO Do Kwon arrested in Montenegro after months in hiding SEC sues Tron founder Justin Sun for fraud DOJ was probing Signature Bank's work with crypto clients ahead of collapse Coinbase Wells Notice: What Is At ‘Stake’ Coinbase Downtrend Could Be Stronger Than You Think

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