U.S. Binance Decides To Remove AMP Token As SEC Called It A Security

The largest crypto exchange by trading volume, Binance, announced in its official blog post on Monday that its U.S  subsidiary exchange would delist Flexa’s AMP token “out of an abundance of caution.” And this move will come into effect on August 15 as the platform is waiting for regulatory clarity.

Since Binance U.S. published the announcement, AMP has been decreasing its value. At the timing of writing, AMP is down nearly 10% in the last 24 hours while it decreased 93% from its all-time high of June 2021. The token currently trades at $0.0082. Its total market cap has now reached $358 million.

Last month, in a legal dispute against Coinbase’s former employee and his two alleged accomplices, U.S Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), classified nine tokens as securities, and AMP is one of them. So, to prevent any legal dispute with U.S authorities, Binance U.S. decided to remove the token. Notably, it is the only one removed from the platform.

In accordance with the implied rules in the state, operating security assets need higher protection for users. That’s why exchanges promoting these assets could be forced to register with the SEC. 

While commenting on the SEC’s probe with Coinbase, crypto exchange Binance added in a blog post:

We operate in a rapidly evolving industry, and our listing and delisting processes are designed to be responsive to market and regulatory developments. Out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to delist the AMP token from Binance.US, effective August 15, 2022.

Binance Delists AMP Voluntarily To Oblige SEC

In addition, Binance added that meeting the regulatory framework requirements is the platform’s first priority to make investors join confidently. However, It further highlighted that it remains to see how authorities treat AMP; trading of the token may resume in the future at any point in time.

Notably, AMP will be unavailable only on Binance’s subsidiary in the U.S., users can trade AMP on other platforms.

On the other hand, Coinbase has refuted the SEC’s claims of trading unregistered securities. Paul Grewal, the company’s chief legal officer, said in response to the SEC’s probe;

We are confident that our rigorous diligence process―a process the SEC has already reviewed―keeps securities off our platform, and we look forward to engaging with the SEC on the matter.

AMP is the native token of Amp blockchain designed to secure and fasten the transfers of cryptocurrencies by working as a collateralized token. Widely being used in Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, Amp provides AMP tokens to the users that are liquidated whenever a transaction takes too long or becomes unsuccessful.

Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com