According to the recent announcement from Bitstamp, the US-based users of the crypto exchange will not be able to trade several altcoins, with the decision going into effect from August 29th, 2023.
The assets that are being ‘permanently’ suspended include Solana (SOL), Decentraland (MANA), NEAR Protocol (NEAR), Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), Polygon (MATIC) and Chiliz (CHZ).
No reason
With its headquarters in Luxembourg, Bitstamp was founded back in 2011 and is currently the longest-standing crypto exchange to exist.
According to CoinGecko, the trading volume of the crypto exchange in the last 24 hours is around $175 million.
There was no specific reason given by the crypto exchange for the decision to end trading for the 7 altcoins, but it did hint that it was due to the US securities regulator.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against Coinbase and Binance for offering these seven altcoins, which it claims are unregistered securities.
The announcement came from Bitstamp on Tuesday in which the exchange said that their comprehensive framework includes continuous evaluation of the cryptocurrencies offered.
It said that the framework also includes considering the dynamic regulatory environment and due to the recent changes, they have decided to change their crypto offerings, particularly those for US-based customers.
Bitstamp further clarified that while they would stop trading activities for the seven aforementioned tokens, users would be able to hold them within their accounts and withdraw when needed.
The SEC crackdown
The SEC has filed lawsuits against the largest crypto platform in the US, Coinbase, and the American subsidiary of the largest crypto exchange in the world, Binance.US.
According to the securities regulator, a number of tokens that are offered on these platforms are actually unregistered securities.
The allegations that the SEC has made against Coinbase also state that the entity was operating as an unregistered broker, national securities exchange, and clearing agency over the years.
It has further said that Coinbase prioritized increasing its own profits over that of its investors.
The response
On June 28th, Coinbase filed a motion to get the SEC lawsuit dismissed and the exchange argued that the SEC does not have the statutory authority to regulate the exchange.
The previous week also saw a federal filing in which the company, which is based in San Francisco, asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit in question.
According to a Coinbase representative, the SEC and the crypto exchange are currently engaged in discussions.
They also said that the best way forward for crypto companies and users in the United States is to see fair and transparent rule-making come from Congress.
The SEC has been going against crypto companies in the US since the start of this year after it received a lot of criticism due to the FTX fiasco.
This has made the regulatory environment in the United States very uncertain for crypto companies, despite the minor victory awarded to Ripple in its lawsuit with the regulator.