Max Keiser Backs SEC in Coinbase Lawsuit, Labels Altcoins Securities

Max Keiser, a prominent Bitcoin advocate and journalist, recently expressed his agreement with the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) stance on cryptocurrencies, excluding Bitcoin. He stressed that all altcoins, including Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP), are “unregistered securities.” This statement came after a court dismissed Coinbase’s request to throw out an SEC lawsuit against the company. Nonetheless, the court ruled that Coinbase Wallet should be dismissed from the legal challenge of the SEC.

Launched by the SEC last summer, the lawsuit against Coinbase accuses the company of helping in the trading of unregistered securities. The Securities and Exchange Commission argues that most altcoins are securities except Bitcoin (BTC) and formerly Ethereum (ETH), which were categorized as commodities. But, the SEC is reopening the classification of Ethereum, leading to a debate among industry representatives.

Max Keiser Backs SEC View in Coinbase Lawsuit

The continuing legal fight of the SEC Coinbase lawsuit underlines the complicated regulatory environment of cryptocurrencies in the USA. However, even though the court recently ruled in favor of Coinbase, as it deleted the Wallet from the Coinbase lawsuit, the issue still needs to be resolved. Keiser’s remarks underline how divided the crypto community is with respect to the nature and regulatory reception of altcoins as opposed to Bitcoin.

Keiser and Bitcoin maximalists such as Samson Mow assert that Ethereum is centralized and, hence, is classified as security rather than a commodity. This point of view is consistent with the negative stance of altcoins taken by the SEC. This is the case, especially with Ethereum being second in market capitalization among cryptocurrencies.

Ripple Faces $2 Billion SEC Penalty Demand

The case of SEC Lawsuit versus Ripple and its token XRP has had a crucial place in the world of crypto regulations since December 2020. One of the significant victories of Ripple last year was when the Federal Judge stated that secondary market sales of XRP do not represent security transactions. As a result of this determination, charges against Ripple executives, such as co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse, were dropped.

In a recent report, the SEC has asked Ripple to compensate $2 billion in penalties and damages. This case, as well as the Coinbase lawsuit, is an example of the never-ending battles between the regulatory bodies and the crypto industry. It equally serves to bring out challenges attached to the classification and regulation of digital assets in the growing cryptocurrency industry.

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