Bitnomial Exchange Sues U.S. SEC, Alleging Regulatory Overreach

• Bitnomial Exchange is suing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly overextending its jurisdiction over digital assets.
• The case concerns an XRP futures contract that's already regulated by the CFTC.

Crypto exchange Bitnomial filed suit against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), saying the regulator overextended its jurisdiction in seeking to regulate a proposed XRP futures contract together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

In a Thursday filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the company said the futures fall solely in the CFTC's remit and the SEC's involvement would add significantly to the company's regulatory burden. The exchange self-certified that the XRP futures did not violate the CFTC's regulations on Aug. 9, it said.

"Bitnomial disagrees with the SEC’s view that XRP is an investment contract and, therefore, a security, and that XRP Futures are thus security futures," it said in the filing.

Bitnomial's case alleging SEC overreach follows a similar filing by Crypto.com on Tuesday. In that suit, the exchange said it was responding to an SEC warning that it was considering an enforcement action, and it was taking "a warranted response to the SEC's regulation by enforcement regime which has hurt more than 50 million American crypto holders."