Crypto stocks tumble as SEC crackdown worries investors

Investors feared that smaller currencies led to a cryptocurrency selloff as the SEC's crackdown on key digital-asset exchanges unnerved investors.

On Saturday, Tokens including Solana, Cardano and Avalanche posted double-digit percentage declines. Bitcoin and Ether, the two biggest digital assets, slid more than 3% as of 2:30 p.m. in Singapore.

The SEC earlier this week gave a double blow to the crypto industry by filing lawsuits against Binance Holdings Ltd., the largest trading platform in the industry, and Coinbase Global Inc., the biggest exchange in the US.

The SEC accused Binance and its founder, Changpeng CZ Zhao, of mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, and breaking securities rules.

Binance called the SEC action disappointing, saying it had engaged with the agency in good-faith negotiations to settle the matter. It has said it plans to defend its platform aggressively. The SEC's allegation that it is running an illegal exchange has been dismissed by Coinbase, which said it is ready to take the legal fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

Some tokens were flagged as unregistered securities, including Binance's BNB, Cardano's ADA and Solana's SOL, among others. The SEC has established strict investor protection rules and could make the tokens more difficult to trade if exchanges shy away from listing them for fear of falling foul of the SEC.

Robinhood Markets Inc. said it would replace Solana, Cardano and Polygon from June 27.

The BNB token, which can be seen as arbiter of sentiment toward Binance, fell almost-10 percent at one point on Saturday, before paring some of the drop.

None China's BYD is heading towards the top of the global EV market.