Regulators put the future of America’s crypto industry in doubt

Taylor Swift’sftxsecsec record-smashing “Eras” tour could end up being one of the most lucrative in musical history, possibly even minting the world’s newest billionaire. But Ms Swift has another thing going for her personal finances. When courted to invest in , a now defunct crypto exchange, she reportedly balked: “Can you tell me that these are not unregistered securities?”American regulators are asking similar questions. On June 6th the Securities and Exchange Commission () sued Coinbase, the country’s largest crypto exchange, for failing to register as a broker, exchange or clearinghouse of securities. When markets opened, Coinbase’s share price dropped by a fifth. The day before the had sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange—alleging both that it offered securities-trading services without the necessary registrations, and that it had placed customer funds in a trading outfit owned by its boss, Changpeng Zhao. Binance rejected all the allegations and said it would “vigorously defend” itself.