SEC No Longer Seeks to Classify Solana and Cardano as Securities in Binance Case

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is no longer pursuing a court ruling to classify ten cryptocurrencies, including Solana and Cardano, as securities in the Binance lawsuit.

According to court filings today, the regulatory body seeks to make certain modifications to its complaint based on the court’s order from July 9, 2024.

The proposed amendment involves changes to the complaint regarding “third-party cryptocurrency assets as securities,” as outlined in their response to Binance’s motion to dismiss.

Notably, the SEC states that the proposed amendment eliminates the need for the court to make a definitive ruling on the charges related to tokens. This suggests that the regulatory agency is no longer seeking a court decision to classify third-party tokens as securities.

Joint Proposed Revised Timeline As a result, the SEC and Binance have put forth a briefing schedule related to this amendment.

The regulatory agency seeks to formally submit its amended motion within 30 days after the court issues a scheduling order. Binance will respond to this motion 30 days thereafter. The parties also propose that the SEC submit its reply no later than 21 days after that.

SEC’s Classification of Cardano, Solana, and Other Tokens as Securities Recalling back to June 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) accused Binance of violating federal securities laws. In the lawsuit, the government agency labeled several tokens listed on Binance as securities.

These tokens include Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), The Sandbox (SAND), Polygon (MATIC), and Axie Infinity (AXS). Other tokens marked as securities include Binance USD (BUSD), Binance Coin (BNB), Decentraland (MANA), Coti (COTI), and Cosmos (ATOM). However,

the above tokens are part of a broader list of cryptocurrency assets classified as securities by the SEC. As of June 2023, the inventory of cryptocurrency assets with a securities label has surged to 68, including Mirror Protocol mAssets.

U.S. Politicians Vie for Crypto Support Interestingly, earlier this month, the SEC dropped its investigation into Paxos, suggesting that the issuance of BUSD did not violate securities laws. This indicates that the agency does not consider BUSD an unregistered security.

Meanwhile, U.S. political figures, especially presidential candidates, are actively seeking support from the crypto industry. Former Republican President Donald Trump has also been courting the industry’s favor.

At a recent Bitcoin conference, Trump pledged to dismiss Gary Gensler, the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, on his first day in office. Some crypto enthusiasts view Gensler as an impediment to the industry’s growth.

Given Trump’s popularity among crypto enthusiasts, the Democratic Party has been taking action to attract these voters in the upcoming elections.

In a letter dated July 26, Democratic House members urged the party to adopt a forward-looking stance on blockchain and cryptocurrencies.

In response, advisors to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris called for repairing the strained relationship between crypto companies and the Democratic Party.

A few days later, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it is no longer interested in classifying Cardano and Solana as securities.

Sentiment: Neutral