Cardano, Solana Still Securities: SEC vs. Kraken Lawsuit Again Labels ADA & SOL

Published November 21, 2023 3:01 PM

By Josh Adams

The SEC has listed multiple crypto tokens as securities.

On November 20, the SEC listed multiple crypto tokens as securities, including ADA and SOL. (Pictured: Gary Gensler). Source: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Key Takeaways

The SEC is continuing its effort to bring crypto under its remit.
On November 20, it brought new action against the Kraken crypto exchange.
It named multiple crypto tokens as securities in the complaint.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped a bomb on November 20th, filing a complaint labeling multiple cryptocurrencies as unregistered securities illegally offered on Kraken’s trading platform.

The regulator cited Kraken’s failure to follow broker-dealer regulations while reaping over $15 billion in fees and trading revenue. However, its most wide-ranging implications are its designation of multiple crypto tokens as securities. Including SOL and ADA, both tokens that have seen positive price movements over the past 30 days.

SEC Lists Multiple Tokens As Securities

The complaint made clear that the SEC believes Cardano’s ADA, Algorand’s ALGO, Cosmos’ ATOM, Filecoin’s FIL, Flow’s FLOW, Dfinity’s ICP, Decentraland’s MANA, Polygon’s MATIC, NEAR Protocol’s NEAR, OMG Network’s OMG, and Solana’s SOL to constitute securities.

According to the complaint, Kraken allowed the unregistered offer and sale of tokens functioning as investment contracts. This designation means funds were invested into a common crypto enterprise with the expectation of profit derived from the efforts of creators, developers, promoters, or other third parties.

Today, the SEC filed a complaint alleging that Kraken operates as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing house. We disagree with their claims and plan to vigorously defend our position. https://t.co/a0C4wzBo3f

— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) November 21, 2023

Essentially, the SEC believes investors counted on people like Charles Hoskinson, Silvio Micali, and Anatoly Yakovenko to increase the value of Cardano, Algorand, and Solana through platform development and adoption incentives.

By deeming these crypto assets as securities, the SEC opens the door to enforcing strict broker-dealer rules around digital token offers/sales. Assuming the court agrees with the regulator’s assessment, it would require exchanges like Kraken to follow regulations related to transparency, custody, best execution, books/records, and conflicts of interest.

Additionally, projects like Decentraland, a metaverse platform, could face restrictions on promotional promises that imply investment potential.

Gary Gensler Losing The Battle?

This isn’t the first time the SEC under Gary Gensler has listed crypto assets as securities in a legal complaint. It did similarly back in June when it filed cases against Coinbase and Binance for similar violations that it accuses Kraken of. However, since then a lot has changed. The SEC mostly lost its case with Ripple when a court decided that XRP was not a security when sold on exchanges.

🚨BREAKING 🚨:

SEC calls out 16 alleged crypto securities in Kraken lawsuit filing.

Algorand (ALGO)
Cardano (ADA)
Polygon (MATIC)
Cosmos (ATOM)
Solana (SOL)
Sandbox (SAND)
Decentraland (MANA)
Internet Computer (ICP)

To name a few…..

XRP no where to be seen 😉🔥🚀 pic.twitter.com/NB5p9uoXIf

— Ripples.xrp (@Ripplesinwales) November 21, 2023

Since the Ripple decision, exchanges have taken note. XRP is now available on Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken and others, despite the SEC’s insistence that it will fight on. Now, speculation is rife that exchanges may relist other tokens designated as securities, too.

Courts will ultimately decide the securities status of these cryptocurrencies, but the SEC has unequivocally demonstrated its assertive stance.

The complaint explicitly cited recent charges against exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase as grounds for taking action against Kraken. Regardless of the final ruling, this signals an escalation in the SEC’s efforts to integrate crypto markets into the conventional securities framework. The fight has only just begun.

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