Last week, on Twitter, Binance.US announced that they would stop U.S. dollar Fiat payments. The crypto market reacted with substantial price losses but, since then recovered. The pressure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Binance.US has become so great that as of June 13, U.S. dollar-fiat transactions will be discontinued.
The U.S. government and the SEC, in particular, had already pressured banks to stop doing business with crypto exchanges in the past. Consequently, Binance.US is forced, at least for the time being, to become a “crypto-only” exchange, where there is no longer a U.S. dollar fiat gateway.
In the face of these fierce attacks from the SEC, the crypto market is reacting with significant price drops. The prices of most altcoins are in the double-digit percentage minus range on a 24-hour view. For example, Cardano, Solana, and Polygon are down over 20% and over 30% (12.6, at 10 a.m.).
The fact that a bulk of cryptocurrencies have lost about a third of their price value this week shows how fierce the attack by the U.S. government and primarily the SEC against crypto is.
Even though Binance.US is in the spotlight and is being grilled the hardest by the authorities, all other crypto exchanges have also been caught in the crossfire. Coinbase, for example, has also been charged by the SEC. Also, Crypto.com has announced that they will shut down their crypto business for institutional clients in the U.S. as of June 21. There is a broad-based withdrawal of crypto service providers from the American market.
In the current tense situation, further bad news – as now in the case of Binance.US – is to be expected. On the other hand, the market has already priced in a lot with the current price slide. The U.S. securities regulator is now expected to do anything.
Some people will likely shift from Altcoins to Bitcoin to reduce risk. Especially since the SEC is not only taking action against the crypto exchanges themselves but also against many altcoins. In their eyes, most altcoins constitute “securities” and should have been regulated. Bitcoin, on the other hand, is exempt from this. Also, a plus point that contributes to the current strength of BTC.
