Crypto Markets Decline Following SEC Lawsuits Against Major Exchanges, Ethereum Activity Slows

67
1
Crypto Markets Decline Following SEC Lawsuits Against Major Exchanges, Ethereum Activity Slows

The cryptocurrency markets experienced a significant downturn over the weekend, with Ethereum dropping 4% and Bitcoin decreasing by 2.5% since Saturday. This decline can be attributed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing lawsuits against leading centralized exchanges Binance and Coinbase for alleged violations of U.S. securities laws. According to the SEC, several digital assets, including SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, and NEXO, are classified as securities. These mentioned tokens saw an average decline of nearly 27% since the SEC's lawsuit, while the top 50 tokens by market cap dropped by an average of 15% during the same period. Solana, Polygon, and Cardano have rejected the SEC's securities classification for their native tokens. Despite a initial recovery last week, the recent downturn indicates that the crypto markets may continue to be influenced by the regulatory battles faced by major exchanges. Top decentralized finance (DeFi) assets were also affected, with LINK, LDO, AAVE, and CRV losing between 15% and 22% of their value over the past week. Only two out of the top 50 DeFi protocols, OlympusDAO and Linea, experienced growth. Bitcoin's market dominance reached its highest level in two years, currently standing at 47.5%, while Ethereum's dominance has fluctuated between 14% and 21% over the past two years. Ethereum's on-chain activity slowed during the market downturn, with its weekly burn rate dropping to 2,683 ETH. In comparison, Ethereum burned 54,923 ETH over the past month. The fees associated with simple token transfers have decreased to $0.52, down from a yearly high of $3.78 a month ago.