Why Bitcoin- And Ethereum-Related Stocks Are Getting Hammered

Coinbase Global Inc COIN, Marathon Digital Holdings Inc MARA and Riot Platforms Inc RIOT shares are all trading lower Monday afternoon amid broader weakness across cryptocurrencies. Shares of crypto-related stocks are trading lower after the SEC sued Binance over U.S. securities violations.

As reported by our Benzinga team, Binance Holdings Ltd. and its CEO Changpeng Zhao are facing a lawsuit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), citing alleged violations of U.S. regulations, as indicated in a recent legal filing by the SEC.

The legal proceedings allege that Zhao, as the driving force behind Binance, directed employees to use VPNs to conceal their geographical locations.

Binance is the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by trading volume. In fact, it tops the ranks of cryptocurrency exchanges maintained by CoinMarketCap, which are ranked based on 24-hour trading volumes, exchange score and average liquidity. Binance triumphs over exchanges like Huobi Global and Coinbase, which follow closely in 2nd and 3rd places, respectively.

According to data from Benzinga Pro:

• COIN is trading lower by 11.05% to $57.42
• MARA is lower by 8.64% to $9.16
• RIOT is lower by 10.38% to $10.50