Putting a security on a blockchain does not change its legal status, three SEC divisions said Wednesday, adding that tokenized assets face the same registration requirements as traditional instruments. In a joint staff statement on Wednesday, the agency’s Divisions of Corporation Finance, Trading and Markets, and Investment Management said tokens that represent securities remain subject to federal securities laws. “The format in which a security is issued or the methods by which holders are recorded (e.g., ...

Core Viewpoint - A securities class action lawsuit has been filed against Coupang, Inc. due to a significant data breach and alleged delays in disclosure, which have negatively impacted the company's stock price [1][2]. Group 1: Lawsuit Details - The lawsuit seeks to represent investors who acquired Coupang securities between August 6, 2025, and December 16, 2025 [1]. - The lead plaintiff deadline for the lawsuit is set for February 17, 2026 [4]. - The lawsuit questions whether Coupang misled investors regarding the adequacy of its cybersecurity protocols and the timeliness of its disclosures related to cybersecurity incidents [4]. Group 2: Data Breach Incident - Coupang experienced a data breach affecting approximately 33.7 million customers, which was reported on November 30, 2025 [5]. - The breach was first detected on November 18, 2025, and was attributed to a former employee who retained access credentials after leaving the company in 2024 [6][7]. - Following the breach, Coupang's CEO of its South Korean e-commerce unit resigned, and South Korean police conducted raids on Coupang's offices [6]. Group 3: Financial Impact - Since the breach was reported, Coupang has lost over $8 billion in market capitalization [9]. - The company warned that it could face material financial losses due to potential revenue loss and increased expenses, including regulatory penalties [8].

Core Insights - The SEC has concluded its 4-year investigation into Aave without recommending any enforcement action, marking a significant win for the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector [1][3][5] Investigation Overview - The investigation focused on whether the AAVE token or Aave's lending pools were unregistered securities, which could have subjected them to U.S. securities laws [3][5] - The probe began during the DeFi boom around 2021-2022, amidst heightened scrutiny of crypto lending and staking [6][4] - Aave's team, including its founder Stani Kulechov, invested considerable resources in defending the protocol's decentralized model against what was described as "unfair regulatory pressure" [6][4] Implications for the DeFi Sector - The closure of the investigation signals a potential easing of regulatory pressure on the DeFi sector, which has faced increased scrutiny in recent years [5][3] - This outcome may influence future regulatory approaches towards other DeFi protocols and cryptocurrency-related operations [5][6]

There are hundreds if not thousands of intermediaries and hundreds of thousands [music] of issuers that can follow the securities laws. Why can't crypto? Even past that, we would sit down with these issuers and companies and say, "What are the technical reasons. What is it about the technology you need us to change. Is it settlement.Is it that you need stable coins to be able to trade for settlement on ATS's. what is it that you need us to fix in these regulations for this to work. And we actually got a lot ...

Regulatory Landscape - Coinbase CLO argues Base, a Layer 2 blockchain, should not be regulated as an exchange [1] - Coinbase asserts it is not matching buyers and sellers of securities on Base [1] - The matching of buyers and sellers occurs in applications (AMMs/CLOBs/auctions) built on the Layer 2, not the Layer 2 itself [1] Technical Perspective - Base is described as a normal blockchain and a Layer 2 solution [1]

Regulatory Landscape - Senate Banking Committee draft excludes staking, airdrop and decentralized physical infrastructure networks from securities laws [1] Cryptocurrency Focus - The draft focuses on staking, airdrops, and decentralized physical infrastructure networks [1]

Make airdrops great againzoomer (@zoomerfied):[ ZOOMER ]SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE DRAFT EXCLUDES STAKING, AIRDROP AND DECENTRALISED PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS FROM SECURITIES LAWS: SYNOPTIC ...

RT BSCN (@BSCNews)SEC AND RIPPLE DROP APPEALS, END FOUR-YEAR LEGAL BATTLE- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple Labs have jointly asked a federal appeals court to dismiss their respective appeals, closing a legal dispute that began in December 2020.- The SEC had accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities offering through XRP sales. The case became a landmark test of how U.S. securities laws apply to digital assets.- In July 2023, Judge Analisa Torres ruled that XRP sales on pu ...

Legal & Regulatory Landscape - SEC and Ripple jointly requested to dismiss their appeals, ending a four-year legal battle that began in December 2020 [1] - The SEC had accused Ripple of conducting an unregistered securities offering through XRP sales [1] - In July 2023, a judge ruled that XRP sales on public exchanges were not securities, but institutional sales violated securities laws [2] - Ripple was fined $125 million, significantly less than the $2 billion sought by the SEC [2] - The ruling enabled XRP to return to major exchanges, removing SEC oversight from secondary sales [2] - The SEC's decision to withdraw its appeal follows multiple case dismissals under President Trump's second term, which has seen a rollback of "regulation by enforcement" in crypto [3] Business Strategy & Market Focus - Ripple will focus on expanding its business in global markets [3] - Programmatic sales of XRP are now legal, and XRP itself is not a security [3]

Regulatory Landscape - SEC exempts liquid stakers like Ethereum's Lido and Solana's Jito from securities laws [1]