SEC Amends Binance Lawsuit, Drops Security Claims for Solana and Other Cryptocurrencies –

The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance had classified SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI as securities.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has amended its lawsuit against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume. The SEC is no longer alleging that Binance offered third-party securities in contravention of U.S. laws.

“The SEC informed Defendants that it intends to seek leave to amend its Complaint, including with respect to the ‘Third Party Crypto Asset Securities’ as defined in the SEC’s Omnibus Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, Dkt. No. 172, obviating the need for the Court to issue a ruling as to the sufficiency of the allegations as to those tokens at this time,” a court filing revealed.

Last summer, the SEC filed a lawsuit against Binance, Binance.US, and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao. The agency alleged the exchanges were providing unregistered broker, trading, and clearing services in the U.S. for digital asset securities. Similar charges have been filed against other exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken.

The SEC’s lawsuit against Binance categorized SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, ATOM, SAND, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI as securities. Today’s amendment is likely to alter these classifications.

Zhao is currently serving a four-month sentence related to a sanctions violation charge brought by the Department of Justice and the Treasury Department, separate from the SEC’s case.

In June, a U.S. federal court ruled that cryptocurrencies and secondary sales of the BNB token do not qualify as securities.

“In the court’s view, then, the SEC’s suggestion that the token is ‘the embodiment of the investment contract’ as opposed to the subject of the investment contract, muddied the issues before the Court,” said Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “No one should read this case as deciding that crypto assets themselves are or are not ‘securities’, that is not the question presented.”

At the time of writing, SOL, ADA, and MATIC are down between 2% to 6% in the last 24 hours, according to The Defiant’s feed.