Amid lawsuits against US-based exchanges like Coinbase and Binance.USAn executive from a national digital asset company has pointed out the legal implications of these recent enforcement actions for the industry.
The era of trading cryptocurrencies as non-securities is coming to an end, according to Itai Avneri, COO of blockchain trading firm INX. Avneri believes that a large number of coins offered for trading on crypto exchanges is one of the main reasons for the legal issues.
โYou cannot continue to trade cryptocurrencies as if they were not securities. Those days are over,โ Avneri said in an interview with Cointelegraph on June 19. According to the COO, INX described exactly this idea in its prospectus five years ago. โIt's like we have this crystal ball in our hands,โ he added.
According to CoinGecko data, Coinbase has up to 241 cryptocurrencies list on its platform at the time of writing, offering a total of 530 trading pairs. after achieving commitment to an asset freeze with US regulators, rival exchange Binance.US still offers 154 cryptos to operate.
Unlike Coinbase or Binance.US, INX has only listed five cryptocurrencies since it was founded in 2017. The listed coins include Bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), USD currency (USDC), Avalanche (AVA) and Litecoin (LTC), Avneri said.
โThatโs it. A very limited cryptocurrency offering,โ the COO stated, adding that INX chooses very carefully which cryptocurrencies it lists for trading on its platform. He also stressed that INX should not be considered a pure crypto company because the company is primarily focused on digitized or tokenized securities.
Avneri added that Bitcoin is โdefinitely not a securityโ, while there is no clear definition of Ether as such:
โThere is still no definition for Ethereum as a security. I know there are many discussions about it. I know there are many opinions on this and we are closely following the news and will continue to do so. Basically, Ethereum, for now, is listed on INX."
INX will also find a way to list ETH on its platform should it one day be considered security, Avneri told Cointelegraph.
The COO also stated that INX sees an opportunity as thousands of cryptocurrencies now need to find a way to be converted into securities and listed on platforms like INX. โThey need to find a way to properly list and register with the SEC as securities,โ Avneri stated, adding:
โI think this path will become more and more clear. And I think it is again, it puts the industry at a very unique point and I would say it's a tipping point or even a point of no return."
Avneri's latest comments echo similar comments made by US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler. In September 2022, Gensler argument that most cryptocurrencies are securities. Before becoming SEC chairman, Gensler also argued that over 70% of crypto markets are non-securitiesincluding currencies like Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and others.
Magazine: Bitcoin Is On A Collision Course With 'Net Zero' Promises
As previously reported, INX positions itself as one of the first companies to make a US SEC-approved security token offering.
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