Renowned trading platform eToro has shocked altcoin investors by deciding to suspend transactions for four major altcoins amid turmoil sparked by the reclassification of numerous altcoins as securities by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), following lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase.
eToro Halts Trading on Four Major Altcoins
eToro announced within a month, following the SEC’s legal action against the world’s two largest exchanges, Binance and Coinbase, and dozens of altcoins, that transactions will be suspended for four altcoins for its US customers.
In its statement on June 12th, eToro noted that from July 12th, US customers will not be able to open new positions in Algorand (ALGO), Decentraland (MANA), Dash (DASH), and Polygon (MATIC). While existing positions in these altcoins can still be maintained by the exchange’s customers, they can sell whenever they want.
SEC’s Security Classification Behind the Delisting Decision
eToro cited as reason for the delisting of ALGO, MANA, DASH, and MATIC, the lawsuits filed by the SEC against cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Binance, and the classification of certain altcoins as securities by the US regulator.
In two separate lawsuits filed by the SEC against Binance on June 5th, and Coinbase on June 6th, various altcoins were classified as securities. These altcoins included MNGO, BUSD, LUNA, MIR, UST, BXY, BTT, TRX, OMG, NGC, TKN, NGC, IHT, SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL , SAND, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, NEXO, BNB, ATOM, MANA, ALGO, and COTI.
Robinhood, the commission-free cryptocurrency and stock trading platform, gave the first hint that US crypto exchanges and trading platforms could take this step, announcing a few days before eToro’s delisting decision that it would delist Cardano’s ADA, Solana’s SOL, and MATIC.
