A look at what the SEC and crypto industry learned from the SEC's ICO enforcement actions in 2017, why the SEC is targeting only select tokens, and more
Token projects now face a selection problem rather than a blanket ban: issuers whose tokens land on the SEC's list confront unregistered-securities exposure, while comparable tokens outside it remain untouched — making the agency's targeting criteria itself a market variable.
For exchanges already in the crosshairs, including Coinbase and Binance per the related lawsuits, the selective approach raises listing-compliance stakes on which assets survive on US venues.
Second-order effects
Crypto firms weighing US listings — the Circle/eToro/Galaxy cohort blocked over the past year — read selective enforcement as an unpredictable regulatory cost, pushing IPO plans offshore or toward private capital instead.
Exchanges and issuers must price in legal-defense budgets for a regulator that picks targets case by case, shifting spending from product development to counsel and jurisdictional arbitrage.
Third-order effects
If enforcement keeps standing in for legislation, the SEC effectively writes US crypto policy through its target list — critics in the related coverage argue this lets the agency shape the industry without a direct regulatory framework, a structure that persists until Congress codifies rules.
The trend: US crypto governance is consolidating into regulation-by-enforcement: since the 2017 ICO crackdown, the SEC has set industry boundaries case by case rather than through formal rules.
I recall when some of these tokens went on sale to the social proof set in SF & a while later when people were flipping them to retail investors for a great profit with nothing of value created. We'll see what the courts say, but it didn't *feel* like it should be legal. https://…
“if Coinbase is right, it means crypto has discovered a way to sell unregulated stock: You can include most of the economic features of stock in a crypto token, and if you sell it to venture capitalists and wait a year then you never have to worry about securities regulation” [im…
“the SEC has mostly had a pretty easy time arguing crypto tokens are securities.. It is sensible and, I think, correct to extend that to say then surely an exchange where those securities trade is a securities exchange. But it is not quite that simple” https://www.bloomberg.com/.…
Robinhood said it may delist tokens named in the SEC lawsuit against Binance and Coinbase this week, including Solana, Polygon and Cardano. Robinhood offers 18 different tokens. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
levine gets to the crux of the issue here yes, crypto folks wanted clearer regulation yes, they hoped it would be reasonable and intended to foster innovation while preventing more scams & frauds the current approach by gensler is not that [image]
Coinbase said that it has no plans to delist crypto tokens alleged to be securities by the SEC and not wind down staking services; so far haven't seen any risk of losing customers or banking partners; has more than $5 billion on its balance sheet to sustain operations and pay for…