SEC Identifies 76 Cryptocurrencies as Securities

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has identified 76 cryptocurrencies considered securities since it began working to regulate cryptocurrencies in 2017. Sixteen are still available for trading on US crypto exchanges, with cases involving four such tokens still in litigation. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has said most crypto tokens fall into this category. Therefore many were distributed illegally because securities must be registered with the SEC and issuers must provide financial and risk disclosures. The SEC has labeled almost 80 crypto tokens as securities, but this is only a small percentage of the total number of cryptocurrencies traded in the US. The SEC says each token requires its own in-depth legal analysis, and developers bear the risk of deciphering when securities laws apply.